THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 
WILLIAM    B.    STEPHENSON,    JR. 


THE    BEAUTIFUL   ALASKAN   SUMMER 


THE  LAND  OF 
TOMORROW 

BY 

WILLIAM  B.  STEPHENSON,  JR. 

FORMERLY   UNITED   STATES  COMMISSIONER  IN  ALASKA 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  XSJr  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1919, 
BY  GEORGE  H.   DOR AN  COMPANY 


FEINTED  IN  THE  TOTTED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


TO  MY  MOTHER 
ALICE  HERSHEY  STEPHENSON 

WITH  GREATEST  DEVOTION 


FOREWORD 

fTlHAT  the  Voice  of  the  North  calls  insistently 
A  to  him  who  once  has  dwelt  amidst  its  snows 
is  neither  myth  nor  legend.  It  is  history.  Like 
the  Song  of  the  Lorelei,  having  heard  it  once  it 
rings  in  his  ears  forever.  True,  it  is  a  strenuous 
game  which  Man  plays  against  Nature  in  Alaska. 
There,  as  nowhere  else  on  earth,  he  pays  the 
price  for  what  he  gets.  Yet  if  you  ask  one  who 
has  loved  and  left  her,  one  who  has  lived  among 
her  mountains,  experiencing  alike  the  bitter  win- 
ter and  the  wondrous  Alaskan  summer,  every 
day  of  which  is  perfect  beyond  the  power  of 
words  to  describe,  even  though  he  may  deny  the 
call  it  is  not  difficult  to  detect  the  hidden  longing 
underlying  his  reply.  For  it  is  a  fact  not  to  be 
gainsaid  that  after  such  an  experience,  no  mat- 
ter how  much  a  man  may  have  looked  forward  to 
a  life  of  ease  after  his  return,  he  seldom  finds  it 
satisfying.  Usually  when  he  goes  back  home  it 
is  to  find  his  old  friends  scattered  or  dead.  The 
old  pleasures  turn  to  gall  and  wormwood  in  his 
mouth.  In  time  the  jar  and  turbulence  of  cities 
get  on  his  nerves.  He  begins  to  hear  the  Voice  I 
The  old  residents  of  Alaska,  they  who  have  lived 

vfl 


viii  FOREWORD 

there  so  long  that  they  seem  a  part  of  the  land 
itself,  always  smile  grimly  when  they  hear  a  man 
begin  to  curse  the  land  where  he  has  made  his 
wealth  and  swear  that  he  never  wants  to  see  it 
again.  To  them  it  is  an  old  story.  They  have 
seen  many  return  to  the  regions  whence  they 
came.  And  they  have  seen  most  of  them  come 
back!  They  alone  know  the  truth  of  the  line 
from  the  old  Norse  legend: 

"Dark  and  true  and  tender  is  the  North!" 

Following  the  opening  up  of  the  gold  fields 
much  was  written  of  Alaska,  but  it  was  confined 
largely  to  the  territory  of  the  Yukon  and  the  un- 
settled, chaotic  conditions  of  the  hour.  The  for- 
tunate few  who,  through  the  medium  of  poem, 
song  or  story,  have  revealed  the  glories  and  the 
tragedies  of  this  part  of  the  country  have  done 
their  work  well.  The  record  of  that  now-historic 
stampede  to  the  Klondike  gold  fields  has  jour- 
neyed to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  But 
all  this  was  twenty  years  ago.  The  Alaska  of 
to-day  is  not  what  it  was  then,  and  there  are  sec- 
tions of  this  marvelous  country  which  no  artist 
has  yet  painted  and  of  which  no  poet  has  yet 
sung.  Were  this  not  true  the  present  scribe 
would  have  no  task, — no  reason  for  adding  to 
the  list. 


FOREWORD  ix 

Sixty  miles  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon 
lies  the  little  island  of  St.  Michael  on  which  the 
writer  spent  five  years  (first  as  manager  of  the 
Pacific  Cold  Storage  Plant  and  afterward  as 
United  States  Commissioner),  journeying  later 
from  this  island  to  almost  every  spot  in  the  coun- 
try which  the  white  man  has  yet  penetrated. 
Moved  by  the  astonishing  discovery  during  a  re- 
cent visit  to  the  States  that  there  is  practically 
nothing  to  be  had  in  any  library  in  regard  to  this 
island,  so  important  a  connecting  link  between 
the  Yukon  and  the  outer  world,  he  is  inflicting 
this  little  volume  upon  a  patient  and  long-suffer- 
ing public.  He  has  been  moved  to  do  this,  not 
from  a  desire  to  pose  as  a  creator  of  literature, 
but  because  of  a  belief  which  can  not  be  shaken 
that  Alaska  is  The  Land  of  Tomorrow!  It  is 
the  only  bit  of  Uncle  Sam's  territory  where  it  is 
still  possible  for  a  man  to  get  in  on  the  ground 
floor.  Now  that  the  great  World  War  is  at  an 
end  thousands  of  soldiers  are  coming  home  again 
— to  begin  life  over !  They  will  be  seeking  a  new 
environment.  Travel,  especially  by  water,  even 
though  (as  is  the  case  with  those  lately  in  the 
service)  it  be  under  difficulties  and  not  always 
of  one's  own  choosing,  never  fails  to  breed  wan- 
derlust in  man.  It  awakens  something  within 
him  which  urges  him  to  go  adventuring,  to  seek 


x  FOREWORD 

the  far  spaces  of  the  world,  no  matter  how  much 
his  heart  may  cry  out  to  him  to  stay  at  home. 
In  Alaska  there  is  room  for  all  who  know  how 
to  fight!  Untold  opportunity  for  him  who  is 
willing  to  fight!  With  a  physique  made  strong 
by  the  life  in  the  trenches,  with  muscles  hardened 
by  military  training,  the  returned  soldier  will  be 
fitted  as  he  never  has  been  before  and  perhaps 
never  will  be  again  to  cope  with  the  somewhat 
rigorous  life  demanded  of  him  who  dwells  "north 
of  fifty-three." 

Alaska  is  calling  for  men, — men  to  cultivate 
her  farms,  to  develop  her  mines,  to  build  her  rail- 
roads, to  man  her  fisheries  and  her  lumber  camps. 
She  will  soon  be  asking  for  business  men  to  man- 
age her  stores,  for  lawyers,  doctors  and  dentists, 
for  teachers,  ministers  and  priests,  for  actors  and 
motion  picture  operators.  In  another  year 
Uncle  Sam's  great  railroad  will  be  running  Pull- 
man cars  across  this  sparsely-settled  country. 
This  means  progress.  Alaska  will  begin  to  live. 
She  will  prove  a  good  although  at  certain  seasons 
of  the  year  a  frigid  mother  to  thousands  yet  un- 
born. The  homely  old  proverb  in  regard  to  the 
early  bird  is  peculiarly  applicable  to  Alaska.  The 
worm  is  only  waiting  to  be  caught. 

To  know  Alaska  is  to  love  her.  As  one  old 
North-Pacific  sea  captain  once  put  it, — "A  man 


FOREWORD  xi 

can  get  along  without  the  woman  he  loves  if  he 
has  to.  But  he  can't  get  along  without  Alaska 
after  he  has  fallen  in  love  with  her!" 

It  is  Robert  Service,  however,  who  in  The 
Spell  of  the  Yukon  has  breathed  the  real  spirit 
of  the  land: 

"Some  say  God  was  tired  when  He  made  it; 
Some  say  it's  a  good  land  to  shun; 
May  be.     But  there's  some  as  would  trade  it 
For  no  land  on  earth — and  I'm  one !" 

W.  B.  S. 

St.  Michael,  Alaska. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  NORTHWARD  Ho! 19 

II.  THE  LAND  OP  TOMORROW  ....  30 

III.  ST.  MICHAEL .     .  38 

IV.  NORTHERN  LIGHTS 46 

V.  GREAT  OPPORTUNITIES 52 

VI.  POLITICS  AND  GOVERNMENT       ...  63 

VII.  THE  PARALLEL  STEEL  BARS  .  .  .  72 
VIII.  FLOWERS  AND  BIRDS  OF  THE  NORTHLAND  83 

IX.  MT.  McKiNLEY  NATIONAL  PARK  .  .  91 

X.  THE  ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES  .  .  100 

XI.  BURIED  WEALTH        .     .     .     .     .     .115 

XII.  THE  HAUNT  OF  THE  SALMON  .  .  .  126 

XIII.  THE  EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  THE  WORLD  137 

XIV.  THE  CITIES  OF  THE  FAR  NORTH    .     .  151 
XV.  THE  NATIVE  RACES 161 

XVI.  SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA 197 

•  XVII.  THE  PRIZE  OF  THE  PACIFIC  .  .  .  210 

XVIII.  ALASKA  AND  THE  WAR 216 

XIX.  ALASKAN  WRITERS 222 

CONCLUSION  .1(^.  ,  .  236 


xiii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  BEAUTIFUL  ALASKAN  SUMMER       .  Frontispiece 

PAGE 

THE  AUTHOR  DRESSED  FOR  THE  TRAILS  AT 
KOTLICK,  MOUTH  OF  THE  YUKON  ...  40 

AN  ISLAND  ON  WHICH  IS  LOCATED  ONE  OF  THE 
FINEST  FOX  FARMS  IN  ALASKA  ....  40 

NEARLY  TWENTY  THOUSAND  FURS  READY  FOR 
SHIPMENT 40 

"SIMROCK  MARY'S"  HERD  OF  REINDEER  COMING 
OVER  THE  HILL  .........  56 

SLEDDERS  OFF  FOR  PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  REIN- 
DEER HERDERS  .........  56 

PRIBILOF  ISLANDS  WHERE  UNCLE  SAM  PROTECTS 
THE  FUR  SEAL 56 

COUNTLESS  THOUSANDS  OF  "MURRS"  HAVE 
MADE  THIS  ISLAND  THEIR  OWN  ....  56 

A  TYPICAL  TOURIANA  VALLEY  GARDEN       .     .       88 

THE  TRAIL  NEAR  WRANGELL  IN  SUMMER.  NOTE 
THE  BEAUTY  OF  THE  WOODS  .....  88 

LOVER'S  LANE,  NEAR  SITKA,  GUARDED  BY 
TOTEM  POLES  .........  88 

SLUICING  THE  WINTER  DUMP  AT  FAIRBANKS  .     120 

THE  THIRD  BEACH  AT  NOME  FROM  WHICH  WAS 
TAKEN  MILLIONS  OF  DOLLARS  WORTH  OF  GOLD 
IN  DUST  AND  NUGGETS  .  .  .  «,'  .  .  120 

ONE  NIGHT'S  CATCH.  NEARLY  FIVE  THOUSAND 
SALMON  WEIGHING  APPROXIMATELY  75,000 

POUNDS 120 

xv 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

A  FISHWHEEL 120 

SlTKA,  THE  OLD  RUSSIAN  CAPITAL  OP  ALASKA  .       152 

JUNEAU,  THE  CAPITAL 152 

ESKIMOS  OF  ST.  MICHAEL 152 

"SCOTTY"  ALLEN  AND  BALDY 200 

GENE  DOYLE,  ONE  OF  THE  OLDEST  MAIL  CAR- 
RIERS ON  SEWARD  PENINSULA.  A  HERO  OF 
THE  TRAIL! 200 

COMING  IN  TO  ST.  MICHAEL  WITH  OUR  THIRTY- 
THREE  DOG  TEAM  AFTER  GOING  OUT  TO  MEET 

THE  MAIL  CARRIER 200 

DUTCH  HARBOR 200 

REVEREND  HUDSON  STUCK,  ARCHDEACON  OF 
THE  YUKON,  PREACHING  WITH  INDIAN  AND 
ESKIMO  INTERPRETERS 224 

INTERIOR  OF  GREEK  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  IN  ST. 
MICHAEL,  BUILT  IN  1837 224 

FINE  OLD  NATIONAL  HOUSE  WITH  TOTEM 
POLES  NEAR  WRANGELL  224 


THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 


THE   LAND  OF 
TOMORROW 

CHAPTER  I 

NORTHWARD  HO ! 

MEMORY,  with  unerring  exactitude,  car- 
ries me  back  to  a  never-to-be-forgotten 
day, — the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  1909, — the  day 
on  which  I  sailed  from  Seattle  on  the  S.  S. 
St.  Croix  to  take  charge  of  the  plant  of  the  Pa- 
cific Cold  Storage  Company  at  St.  Michael, 
Alaska.  In  my  early  manhood  I  had  studied  law, 
but  the  years  immediately  preceding  this  date  I 
had  spent  among  the  great  forests  of  British  Co- 
lumbia in  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  British 
Columbia  Tie  and  Timber  Company.  It  was  a 
life  which  appealed  to  me, — one  which  I  loved 
and  had  planned  to  follow  during  my  working 
years.  But  man  proposes !  And  that  inexplain- 
able  thing  for  which  we  have  no  definite  name, — 
call  it  fate,  fortune,  destiny,  or  what  you  will — 
often  disposes !  Some  sudden  and  utterly  unf ore- 

19 


20      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW] 

seen  event,  almost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  will 
change  the  whole  current  and  meaning  of  a  man's 
life.  Such  an  experience  was  mine.  So,  like  Co- 
lumbus of  old,  I  set  forth  once  more  upon  the 
uncharted  sea  of  life  in  search  of  a  new  world. 

The  last  decade  has  brought  about  marvelous 
improvement  in  travel  northward.  Most  ocean 
voyages  are  eventful  and  mine  was  particularly 
so.  Therefore  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  begin  with 
it.  At  that  time  sailing  to  Alaska  was  unlike 
voyaging  to  any  other  part  of  the  world.  Man 
knew  not  whither  he  was  going  or  whether  he 
would  return.  The  air  of  mystery  which  broods 
ever  over  all  the  northland  seems  to  cast  a  spell 
upon  the  traveler  from  the  moment  of  starting. 
Once  there,  the  Land  of  Silence  wraps  her  arms 
about  him  and  holds  him  close,  sometimes  ab- 
sorbing him! 

There  are  two  routes  by  which  one  may  make 
his  way  northward.  One  is  by  what  is  known 
as  the  Inside  Channel,  by  far  the  more  beautiful 
and  diverting  and  carrying  him  into  the  heart  of 
the  Yukon  territory.  The  other  is  the  Outside 
Passage  and  bears  him  directly  across  to  the 
Alaskan  Peninsula  and  thence  around  the  coast 
to  Nome.  It  was  the  latter  route  which  I  took 
on  my  first  voyage  to  Alaska. 

No  man  can  see  the  lights  of  Victoria  or  Van- 


NORTHWARD  HO!  21 

eouver  fade  behind  him  without  a  feeling  that  he 
is  standing  in  the  dawn  of  a  new  life.  Behind 
him  lies  the  known ;  ahead,  the  unknown !  From 
Vancouver  to  Skagway,  up  the  Inside  Channel, 
is  a  wonderful  journey  of  a  thousand  miles,  and 
as  the  boats  pull  away  from  shore  one  sees  lying 
to  right  of  him  the  mainland  of  British  Columbia 
and  to  the  left  the  island  which  bears  the  name 
of  that  intrepid  explorer  who  navigated  the  then 
unknown  waters  of  the  North  Pacific  and  chart- 
ed them.  Those  who  now  journey  northward 
will  never  realize  their  debt  to  Captain  Vancou- 
ver. To  the  land-lubber  the  journey  up  the 
Channel  seems  fraught  with  a  thousand  dangers. 
But  not  so.  Not  a  sunken  rock  but  this  old  sea- 
dog  has  charted  it,  and  the  vessels  thread  their 
way  with  the  utmost  safety  through  a  perfect 
maze  of  islands.  To  realize  the  miracle  of  this 
thousand  miles  of  tangled  maze  one  has  but  to 
stand  in  the  bow  of  the  boat  and  attempt  to  pick 
out  the  channel  through  which  it  will  pass.  He 
will  guess  wrong  every  time.  One  can  not  dis- 
tinguish the  isles  from  the  shore.  The  mountains 
crash  skyward,  seemingly  from  the  very  deck  of 
the  vessel  itself.  But  the  inexperienced  can  not 
tell  whether  they  crown  an  island  or  are  on  the 
mainland.  The  tourist  gazes  with  admiration, 
not  unmixed  with  awe,  at  the  countless  little  bays 


22      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

and  straits  through  which  the  boats  twist,  turn, 
creep  forward  and  of ttimes  turn  backward !  And 
so  it  is  until  the  thousand  miles  of  water,  with  its 
fairy  islands  and  its  gigantic  icebergs  lie  far  be- 
hind him, — a  part  of  that  past  upon  which  he  has 
turned  his  back. 

The  journey  of  the  St.  Croix  (making  the  out- 
side trip)  was  uneventful  until  we  reached  Cape 
Flattery.  Here  we  encountered  a  terrific  storm 
from  the  northwest.  For  a  couple  of  days  we  had 
had  a  feeling  that  the  glorious  Pacific  was  in  one 
of  her  sullen  moods.  It  began  with  a  gray  sea 
and  a  few  flying  clouds.  Followed  a  head  wind 
which  knocked  fifty  miles  off  the  day's  run  and 
then, — a  real  storm,  a  miniature  hurricane.  It 
continued  with  unabated  violence  until  we  were 
within  a  day's  run  of  Unimak  Pass,  at  the  foot 
of  the  Alaskan  Peninsula.  For  six  days  we  had 
sailed  straight  across  the  ocean  to  northwest,  see- 
ing nothing  but  sky  and  water, — huge,  moun- 
tain-like waves  which  rose  and  fell  with  monot- 
onous regularity.  When  we  reached  this  point, 
however,  we  had  a  little  diversion.  Great  num- 
bers of  walrus  were  splashing  about  in  the  water 
and  lying  on  the  ice.  Here,  also,  I  saw  the  first 
whales  I  had  ever  seen. 

One  of  the  sights  of  this  ocean  voyage  is  Mt. 
Shishaldin,  an  active  volcano  nearly  nine  thou- 


NORTHWARD  HO!  23 

sand  feet  high  and  located  about  thirty  miles  east 
of  Unimak  Pass.  In  symmetry  and  in  the  beauty 
of  its  curves  it  rivals  Fujiyama,  the  sacred  moun- 
tain of  Japan.  No  geographer  has  ever  visited 
Mt.  Shishaldin.  No  man  has  yet  ascended  it. 
Unimak,  the  island  on  which  it  stands,  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  Alaskan  Peninsula,  being  separ- 
ated from  it  only  by  a  narrow  strait.  Like  the 
rest  of  the  Aleutian  chain,  it  lies  between  Bering 
Sea  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  was  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
June  ninth  that  we  sighted  the  volcano.  Scarcely 
any  one  on  board  had  retired,  as  none  wished  to 
miss  the  view  of  the  mountain.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  none  regretted  the  loss  of  sleep.  It  was  a 
sight  long  to  be  remembered.  Directly  over  the 
smoking  cone  the  early-morning  sun,  dark  red 
of  hue,  was  slowly  rising.  The  effect  was  most 
spectacular  and — symbolic!  No  work  of  the 
Master's  hand  so  symbolizes  life  as  do  the  moun- 
tains. No  matter  how  dark  the  vales  and  canons, 
on  the  heights  there  is  always  light ! 

It  was  shortly  after  we  entered  the  Pass  that 
our  journey  began  to  afford  us  excitement.  Here 
we  encountered  the  first  large  ice  floes  and  caught 
between  them  were  many  vessels, — the  Ohio, 
Senator,  Victoria,  Olympia  and  Mackinac  being 
plainly  visible.  Each  was  trying  to  find  a  pas- 


24      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

sage  through  the  ice  and  it  was  most  amusing  to 
see  the  grim  smile  which  came  over  the  face  of 
our  own  Captain  W when  he  saw  their  pre- 
dicament. It  is  considered  quite  an  honor  to 
bring  the  first  boat  through  the  ice  in  the  spring. 
No  wonder,  then,  that  the  Captain  was  pleased. 
All  these  boats  had  sailed  from  one  to  three  days 
ahead  of  us.  Now  the  St.  Croix  had  an  equal 
chance  with  the  rest. 

At  about  half  speed  we  started  to  plow 
through  the  ice.  We  made  about  fifty  miles. 
Then  the  ice  became  much  thicker  and  more  dif- 
ficult to  penetrate.  Many  times  we  came  to  a 
standstill.  Then  we  would  back  up  some  eight 
or  nine  hundred  feet  and  at  full  speed  would  go 
ahead  again,  ramming  the  ice  with  all  possible 
force.  It  was  necessary  to  hold  on  to  the  rail  in 
order  to  keep  one's  feet. 

Now,  this  sort  of  thing  may  be  interesting  for 
a  certain  length  of  time,  but  when  it  becomes 
continuous  one's  interest  flags !  Operations  were 
suspended  for  thirty  minutes  three  times  a  day 
while  meals  were  served,  but  except  for  these  in- 
tervals, it  went  on  night  and  day.  I  say  night 
and  day,  but  it  was  principally  day.  At  this  time 
of  year  there  was  only  about  one  hour  of  the 
twenty-four  when  one  could  not  see  to  read  in  his 
state-room  without  the  electric  light. 


NORTHWARD  HO!  25 

On  the  morning  of  June  eleventh  I  was  awak- 
ened by  a  terrific  crash.  I  heard  the  swift  scam- 
pering of  feet  along  the  deck  toward  the  bow. 
I  dressed  as  quickly  as  possible  and  hurried  for- 
ward. We  had  bumped  squarely  into  a  young 
iceberg  at  full  speed  and  had  smashed  our  bow 
stem.  This  meant  that  we  were  caught  in  the 
ice  floe  with  no  means  of  getting  out !  We  could 
no  longer  ram  the  ice  with  the  ends  of  the  plank- 
ing exposed.  It  further  developed  that  the  own- 
ers had  neglected  to  equip  the  boat  with  material 
necessary  for  repairs.  But  the  Captain  realized 
the  necessity  of  doing  something,  so,  in  his  di- 
lemma, he  ordered  some  of  the  steerage  bunks 
torn  up  in  order  to  get  two  by  four  lumber  with 
which  to  patch  the  bow.  It  was  wasted  effort. 
The  material  was  too  light  to  be  serviceable.  It 
did  not  last  as  long  as  it  took  to  put  it  on.  One 
bump  finished  it. 

There  was  among  the  passengers  a  ship-builder 
named  Trahey.  Being  a  practical  individual,  he 
suggested  chaining  the  anchor  across  the  bow  and 
ramming  the  ice  with  it.  This  seemed  to  be  all 
right,  and  we  were  beginning  to  think  that  our 
troubles  were  over,  but  all  of  a  sudden  we  struck 
an  ice  floe  about  thirty  feet  thick.  The  anchor 
slid  up  the  side  and  tore  out  the  planking.  The 
Captain  (and  the  rest  of  us  as  well)  saw  that  he 


26      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

was  up  against  it.  The  boat  began  to  take  water. 
We  all  realized  that  the  situation  had  become 
serious. 

Presently  the  click-click  of  the  wireless  was 
heard.  Calls  for  help  were  sent  immediately. 
The  first  response  was  from  the  S.  S.  Thedias. 
She  replied  that  she  was  stuck  in  the  ice  off 
Nome  and  could  render  assistance  to  no  one.  The 
second  response  was  from  the  Corwin.  She  lay 
off  St.  Michael.  She  refused  to  come  to  our  aid 
for  less  than  six  thousand  dollars,  which  terms 

Captain  W ,  evidently  valuing  our  lives  at 

nothing,  refused  to  accept.  We  carried  no 
freight.  Already  the  meals  on  the  boat  were  get- 
ting poor,  but  at  the  moment  no  one  was  troubled 
with  a  large  appetite!  The  Captain  would  give 
out  no  information  as  to  his  intentions,  but  it 
chanced  that  one  of  the  passengers,  an  old  friend 
of  mine,  a  former  Passenger  Agent  for  the  Santa 
Fe  railroad,  had  been  a  telegraph  operator  and 
he  kept  me  informed  as  the  wireless  messages 
broke  over  the  antenna. 

In  our  helpless  condition  we  began  to  drift 
toward  the  Arctic  Ocean  at  the  rate  of  four  miles 
an  hour  and  we  could  not  keep  our  minds  from 
reverting  to  the  tragic  experience  of  the  Portland 
which  only  a  few  years  previously  had  floated 
about  the  Polar  Sea  all  summer.  It  is  needless 


NORTHWARD  HO!  2> 

to  say  that  there  was  little  sleep  on  the  St.  Croix 
that  night.  I  retired  at  eleven-thirty  but  was 
up  again  at  four  and  entertained  myself  by 
watching  the  seals  and  walruses  playing  near  the 
boat. 

We  spent  the  next  day,  June  twelfth,  wonder- 
ing what  was  to  become  of  us,  but  as  is  usually 
the  case  in  such  crises,  after  the  first  shock  is 
over  one  becomes  philosophical  about  most  things, 
— even  the  imminence  of  death.  No  man  in  his 
right  mind  really  fears  death.  But  the  sudden 
realization  that  all  one's  plans  have  come  to 
naught,  that  one  shall  never  realize  his  cherished 
dreams,  the  thoughts  of  loved  ones  far  away, — 
it  is  these  and  kindred  things  which  make  of  it 
the  staggering  proposition  that  it  is.  So  the  men 
on  board  realized  the  necessity  of  keeping  a  stiff 
upper  lip.  We  tried  to  make  the  others  believe 
that  we  were  cheerful,  and  although  none  of  us 
could  stifle  his  vague  uneasiness  we  managed  to 
keep  it  out  of  sight.  In  the  afternoon  a  party 
of  us  got  out  on  the  ice,  chose  sides  and  had  a 
snow-ball  battle.  It  helped  us  to  forget  the  seri- 
ousness of  our  plight  and  to  amuse  those  who 
watched  from  the  boat.  By  nightfall  we  had 
drifted  as  far  north  as  latitude  sixty-four,  a  few 
miles  south  of  Nome.  But — we  danced  on  deck 


28      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

until  two  in  the  morning,  the  thirteenth  day  of 
June. 

I  have  always  scouted  the  prevailing  notion 
that  there  is  any  bad  luck  connected  with  the 
number  thirteen!  I  had  no  more  than  fallen 
asleep  when  I  was  awakened  by  the  jar  of  the 
machinery.  My  first  thought  was  that  the  Cap- 
tain had  decided  to  make  a  final  attempt  to  buck 
the  ice  and  I  was  confident  that  this  could  have 
but  one  result, — the  wrecking  of  the  boat.  I 
dressed  immediately  and  went  on  deck,  only  to 
come  face  to  face  with  another  of  those  myste- 
rious twists  of  fortune  which  ofttimes  in  an  in- 
stant turn  danger  to  safety  and  just  as  frequent- 
ly make  of  apparent  surety  a  disaster.  Right 
ahead  of  us,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see,  was  an 
open  channel,  straight  as  a  die  and  just  a  little 
wider  than  the  boat! 

All  was  activity  now.  It  seemed  only  a  mo- 
ment until  we  were  under  way.  Once  started 
we  forged  ahead  with  all  possible  speed  in  order 
that  we  might  get  out  of  the  ice  pack  before  the 
channel  should  close  again.  Luck  favored  us.  A 
few  hours  later  we  landed  at  Nome.  There  was 
no  coal  to  be  had  here  and  as  we  had  only  enough 
for  twelve  hours,  after  unloading  the  passengers 
the  St.  Croix  headed  immediately  for  St. 
Michael.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the 


NORTHWARD  HO!  29 

thirteenth  day  of  June,  I  reached  my  destination. 
No  steamers  can  land  at  the  island.  Both  pas- 
sengers and  freight  have  to  be  lightered  ashore. 
The  inner  bay  was  filled  with  ice.  We  anchored 
five  miles  out.  I  went  ashore  with  a  friend  in 
his  gasoline  launch  which  had  been  sent  out  for 
him.  We  left  the  St.  Croix  at  two-thirty,  and  we 
had  to  get  out  several  times  and  pull  the  boat 
along  the  ice  until  we  could  launch  her  again  in 
open  water.  At  seven  o'clock  we  reached  the 
beach.  I  stepped  ashore  and  took  a  look  at  what 
was  to  be  my  abiding-place  for  the  next  five 
years.  Home  was  never  like  this !  I  was  informed 
that  the  largest  building  in  sight  was  the  Steam- 
boat Hotel.  I  took  my  way  thither  and  was  the 
sole  occupant  of  this  now-historic  hostlery  for 
more  than  a  week. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

fTIHE  writer  lays  no  claim  to  being  an  histo- 
A    rian,  but  a  word  in  regard  to  Alaska's  early 
history  and  how  the  country  came  to  be  a  part  of 
our  national  possessions  may  not  be  amiss. 

When  the  Russians  first  came  to  the  island  of 
Unalaska  they  learned  from  the  natives  there  of 
a  vast  country  lying  to  eastward,  the  name  of 
which  was  Alayeksa.  Their  own  island,  one  of 
the  Aleutian  group,  they  called  Nagun-Ala- 
yeksa,  which  means  "the  land  next  to  Alayeksa." 
As  is  usually  the  case,  especially  in  primitive  lan- 
guages, the  word  was  gradually  modified  and  in 
time  it  assumed  three  different  forms.  The  Rus- 
sians called  the  country  itself  Alashka.  The  pen- 
insula became  Atiaska,  the  island  Unalaska.  In 
English  the  word  changed  once  more  to  the  pres- 
ent name,  Alaska,  which  means  "The  Great 
Country."  It  is  a  fitting  name.  All  honor  to 
those  two  good  Americans,  Seward  and  Sumner, 
who  in  the  teeth  of  the  most  withering  scorn,  ridi- 
cule, and  even  opprobrium,  saved  for  our  coun- 

30 


THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW      31 

try  her  most  glorious  and  valuable  possession, — 
the  land  discovered  and  partly  explored  by  Vitus 
Bering  in  1741. 

The  old  saying  that  "Westward  the  star  of 
empire  takes  its  way"  is  not  applicable  to  Alaska. 
She  enjoys  a  reputation  wholly  unique  in  the 
history  of  nations.  She  is  the  only  country  ac- 
quired by  any  European  power  in  America  be- 
cause of  expansion  eastward.  The  territory 
which  lies  between  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the 
Mississippi  River  was  our  inheritance  from  the 
mother  country.  The  two  Floridas,  Texas,  New 
Mexico,  and  California  we  acquired,  either  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  from  Spain.  From  France 
we  purchased  Louisiana.  But  about  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century  there  began  in  Russia  a 
movement  eastward  similar  to  that  which  fol- 
lowed (westward)  the  American  Revolution  in 
our  own  country. 

It  was  shortly  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Tar- 
tars and  the  establishment  of  a  national  mon- 
archy. But  there  was  as  much  difference  be- 
tween the  motives  underlying  the  westward 
movement  in  our  country  and  the  eastward 
movement  in  Russia  as  there  was  in  the  character 
of  the  pioneers  who  made  them  and  the  results 
which  followed.  The  American  pioneer  was 
either  a  fur  trader,  a  prospector,  a  hunter*  a  mis- 


32      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

sionary,  a  soldier,  or  a  farmer  seeking  land  on 
which  to  settle.  The  Russian  pioneer  was  usu- 
ally either  a  fugitive  from  justice  or  a  proved 
criminal  who  had  been  punished  by  exile  to  the 
vast  wilderness  which  lay  beyond  the  confines  of 
the  empire. 

Commercial  and  military  motives  exist  in  all 
countries,  however,  and  in  this  case  both  oper- 
ated. The  exigencies  of  commerce  carry  men  to 
the  far  corners  of  the  earth.  The  trade  in  furs 
had  long  been  a  leading  industry  in  Russia.  So 
as  soon  as  it  became  known  that  the  countries  east 
of  the  Russian  empire  were  rich  in  fur-bearing 
animals,  particularly  the  highly-prized  sable,  the 
merchants  at  once  sat  up  and  took  notice !  They 
hastened  to  extend  their  trade  eastward  as  rapid- 
ly as  the  country  could  be  made  Russian  territory. 
So  the  Cossacks,  pressing  ever  onward,  at  last 
reached  the  Straits.  Eastward  through  Siberia, 
into  Alaska  they  came  for  this  purpose.  Here 
they  found  not  only  furs  but  huge  quantities  of 
ivory  which  was  embedded  in  the  drift  along  the 
seacoast  and  the  rivers. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great, — 
a  reign  which  was  significant  for  many  reasons. 
He  it  was  who  was  responsible  for  the  promul- 
gation of  comprehensive  exploring  plans  which 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  Alaska.  He  fitted 


THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW      33 

out  an  exploring  party  under  command  of  Vitus 
Bering,  a  Dane,  who  was  accompanied  by  a  Rus- 
sian navigator  named  Chirikof.  The  story  of 
Bering's  exploration  is  now  too  well  known  to 
need  elaboration  here.  On  the  morning  of  July 
sixteenth,  1741,  Bering  records  that  he  "came  in 
sight  of  a  rugged  coast,  presenting  a  vast  chain 
of  mountains  and  a  noble  peak  wrapped  in  eter- 
nal snows."  This  was  Mt.  St.  Elias. 

For  some  reason  which  seems  unaccountable 
and  has  never  been  explained,  Bering  did  not 
stop  at  this  time  for  further  exploration.  In- 
stead, he  set  sail  for  home  to  report  his  discov- 
ery. He  never  reached  Russia,  however.  His 
boat,  the  St.  Peter,  was  wrecked  off  a  small 
island  not  far  from  Kamchatka,  where,  on  De- 
cember eighth,  1741,  the  commander  died.  He 
had  discovered,  explored,  and  named  many  of  the 
small  islands,  but  his  crew  had  suffered  miserably 
from  scurvy.  Many  had  died.  The  rest  re- 
mained for  nine  months  upon  the  little  island 
which  now  bears  the  commander's  name, — Ber- 
ing Island.  The  other  boat,  commanded  by 
Chirikof,  had  also  a  tragic  experience.  This 
navigator  discovered  the  coast  of  Alaska  not  far 
from  Sitka.  In  an  attempt  to  land  ten  of  his 
men  were  lost.  A  rescuing  party  sent  in  search 
of  them  met  the  same  fate.  Both  were  victims 


34      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

of  the  cannibalistic  residents  of  the  coast.  They 
were  sacrificed  by  the  Kolosh  Indians.  A  sec- 
ond rescuing  party  went  after  the  others  but  just 
as  they  neared  the  shore  a  party  of  natives,  look- 
ing as  innocent  as  the  cat  who  has  eaten  the  ca- 
nary, suddenly  appeared  upon  the  bank.  The 
little  boat  load  of  rescuers  stood  not  upon  the 
order  of  their  going.  Regarding  discretion  as 
the  better  part  of  valor,  they  turned  and  fled.  A 
few  months  later,  haggard  and  famished,  the 
remnant  of  the  crew  landed  at  Kamchatka. 

Followed  the  long  years  of  controversy  in  re- 
gard to  trading  privileges,  but  in  time  these  were, 
in  a  manner,  adjusted.  A  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight  years  later  the  United  States  added  one 
more  chapter  in  the  history  and  growth  of  our 
national  interests  on  the  Pacific.  She  acquired 
Alaska.  Beginning  in  Oregon,  extending  next 
to  California,  where  they  received  their  most  pow- 
erful impetus,  these  interests  have  gradually  in- 
creased to  gigantic  proportions.  The  markets  of 
the  Orient  became  alluring.  The  Pacific  rail- 
ways were  constructed.  Not  to  have  profited  by 
Russia's  willingness  to  dispose  of  Alaska  would 
have  been  madness. 

Perhaps  the  story  (vouched  for  by  Charles 
Sumner)  of  how  the  purchase  came  about  may 
also  be  of  interest.  It  was  during  the  adminis- 


THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW      35 

tration  of  President  Buchanan,  in  1859.  An  un- 
official representative  of  the  President  sounded 
the  Russian  minister  as  to  the  willingness  of  his 
government  to  sell  Alaska.  Being  asked  quickly 
what  the  United  States  would  pay,  the  unofficial 
representative  (who  had  not  given  the  subject 
serious  consideration  and  who,  if  he  had  done  so, 
would  have  had  no  authority  to  answer  such  a 
question)  was  a  bit  nonplussed  for  the  moment. 
But  he  sent  out  a  feeler  by  saying  suggestively, 
"Oh, — about  five  million  dollars." 

He  saw  at  once  that  he  had  made  an  impres- 
sion. He  hastened  to  the  assistant  Secretary  of 
State  and  reported  the  affair  to  him.  The  lat- 
ter then  approached  the  Russian  minister,  with 
the  result  that  the  matter  was  brought  definitely 

before  the  government.     But .     The  Civil 

War  broke  out.  And  for  the  next  six  years  there 
was  no  talk  of  buying  anything!  During  these 
years,  however,  the  people  of  what  is  now  the 
State  of  Washington,  along  Puget  Sound,  had 
become  deeply  interested  in  the  fisheries.  In 
1866,  through  their  legislature,  they  petitioned 
the  President  of  the  United  States  to  obtain  for 
them  from  the  Russian  government  permission  to 
fish  in  Alaskan  waters,  asking  also  for  a  more 
complete  exploration  of  the  Pacific  coast  fisheries 
from  "Cortez  Bank  to  Bering  Sea."  It  was  this 


66      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

petition  which  revived  the  discussion  in  regard 
to  the  purchase  of  Alaska. 

Fortune  favored  the  project.  As  was  the  case 
with  Napoleon,  when  he  agreed  to  the  sale  of  the 
Louisiana  territory,  Russia,  bled  by  one  war  and 
already  preparing  for  another,  in  danger  of  los- 
ing those  of  her  possessions  which  had  been 
threatened  by  the  British  navy  during  the  Cri- 
mean war,  the  Russian- American  Fur  Company 
not  disposed  to  accept  such  modifications  of  its 
charter  as  the  government  saw  fit  to  grant,  em- 
powered the  Archduke  Constantine,  brother  of 
the  Czar,  to  instruct  the  Russian  minister  at 
Washington  to  cede  the  territory  of  Alaska  to 
the  United  States.  Within  a  month  all  arrange- 
ments were  complete.  The  treaty  was  signed 
March  thirtieth,  1867.  The  price  at  first  agreed 
upon  was  seven  million  dollars,  but  William  H. 
Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  offered  to  increase 
this  amount  by  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars  on  condition  that  Russia  cede  the  terri- 
tory "unencumbered  by  any  reservations,  privi- 
leges, franchises,  grants  or  possessions  by  associ- 
ated companies  .  .  .  Russia  or  any  other.  .  .  ." 

It  seemed  for  a  while  that  there  would  be  a 
hitch  in  the  negotiations  due  to  the  protest  made 
by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  against  this  lat- 
ter demand.  But  Seward  stood  firm.  He  insist- 


THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW      37 

ed,  wisely,  upon  this  condition  and  secured  it. 
Upon  the  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the 
game  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  retired  perma- 
nently from  the  scene. 


CHAPTER  III 

ST.  MICHAEL 

IT  is  only  when  one  ventures  forth  upon  se 
large  a  subject  that  he  realizes  how  inade- 
quate, how  incomplete  the  result  must  be 
even  after  he  has  done  his  best.  He  may  just  as 
well  acknowledge  his  shortcomings  in  the  outset 
and  crave  his  readers'  indulgence.  It  is  the  truth 
that  there  is  no  man  living  who  can  or  has  the 
right  to  attempt  to  speak  of  Alaska  as  a  whole. 
A  man  might  travel  continuously  for  a  whole 
year,  using  every  means  of  expedition  at  his  com- 
mand, not  wasting  a  day  anywhere,  journeying 
by  land  or  sea,  in  winter  and  summer,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  "last  ice"  and  the  "first  water," 
and  yet  he  could  not  begin  to  cover  the  country. 
In  the  far-distant  corners,  hidden  away  from  the 
eyes  of  man,  one  will  come  upon  the  scattered 
missions  of  the  various  churches  to  reach  which 
one  must  journey  thousands  of  miles !  So,  when- 
ever a  man  from  Nome  speaks  of  Alaska  he 
means  that  part  of  it  which  he  himself  knows, 
— the  Seward  Peninsula.  The  man  from  Cor- 

38 


ST.  MICHAEL  39 

dova,  or  Valdez,  talks  of  the  Prince  William 
Sound  country  and  calls  it  Alaska!  The  man 
from  Juneau  speaks  of  Alaska,  but  all  that  he 
means  is  the  southeastern  coast.  This  is  why 
so  much  that  is  written  of  the  country  is  contra- 
dictory. In  fact,  Alaska  is  not  one  but  many 
countries!  And  the  various  parts  differ  radical- 
ly from  each  other.  Nature  has  separated  them 
each  from  the  other  by  obstacles  almost  insu- 
perable. They  have  different  interests,  different 
problems.  Their  climate  is  not  the  same, 
nor  their  resources,  nor  their  population.  Thus 
what  is  true  of  one  part  of  Alaska  may  be  (and 
often  is)  absurdly  untrue  of  another  part. 

Because  much  of  my  own  experience  here  has 
centered  about  St.  Michael  and  because  the  little 
island  is  so  large  a  part  of  the  country's  fragmen- 
tary history  I  am  indulging  myself  in  the  pleas- 
ure of  telling  her  story.  When  the  Russian- 
American  company  was  under  the  administration 
of  that  able  and  high-minded  official,  Baron  von 
Wrangell,  Michael  Trebenkoff  was  sent  out  to 
establish  a  trading-post  on  Norton  Sound.  In 
1833  he  built  Redoubt  St.  Michael,  putting  it 
under  the  protection  of  his  patron  Archangel.  It 
was  the  second  Russian  port  on  Bering  Sea,  Nu- 
shayak,  in  Bristol  Bay,  having  been  founded  in 
1818, 


40      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

It  is  a  quaint,  historic  little  island,  about  twen- 
ty-two miles  long  and  six  miles  wide.  It  has  one 
mountain,  an  extinct  volcano,  in  the  center  and 
is  separated  from  the  mainland  by  a  narrow  chan- 
nel. The  latter  was  utterly  useless  for  shipping, 
and  a  few  years  ago  the  government  spent  quite 
an  amount  of  money  widening  and  improving  it 
in  order  that,  by  its  use,  the  worst  part  of  the 
sea  voyage  from  St.  Michael  to  the  Yukon  river 
might  be  avoided.  But  it  was  misdirected  effort. 
The  boats  do  not  use  it  because  of  its  narrowness. 
The  canal,  at  the  mouth  of  which  is  a  beacon, 
leads  by  a  wandering  course  into  St.  Michael's 
Bay.  I  one  day  asked  Captain  Polte,  an  old  offi- 
cer of  one  of  the  vessels,  why  the  canal  was  not 
used.  "Well,"  he  replied  laconically,  "we  can't 
use  it  when  it's  windy  and  when  there's  no  wind 
we  don't  need  it!"  Reason  enough. 

Some  of  the  old  log  buildings  on  St.  Michael 
still  stand,  mute  reminders  of  the  day  when  the 
little  island  belonged  to  Russia.  On  a  point  of 
rock  one  may  still  see  the  small  octagonal  block 
house  inside  of  which  the  diminutive  but  still-de- 
fiant rusty  cannon  arouse  the  interest  of  all  visi- 
tors. In  the  stormy  pioneer  days,  so  we  are  told, 
these  little  six-pounders  more  than  once  proved 
effective  when  the  post  was  in  danger.  They 


THE    AUTHOR   DRESSED    FOR   THE    TRAILS   AT 
KOTLICK,   MOUTH   OF  THE  YUKON 


AN   ISLAND  OX    WHICH    IS   LOCATED  ONE   OF   THE   FINEST 
FOX  FARMS    IN    ALASKA 


NEARLY   TWENTY   THOUSAND   FURS    READY   FOR    SHIPMENT 


ST.  MICHAEL  41 

were  considered  sufficiently  historic  to  be  exhib- 
ited at  the  Seattle  Exposition  in  1909. 

This  is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  to  record 
the  story  of  the  Klondike  stampede,  but  that  part 
of  it  which  affected  the  island  may  be  here  relat- 
ed. When  almost  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the 
desolate  coast  of  Bering  Sea  became  a  veritable 
highway  of  nations,  when  all  the  available  ship- 
ping facilities  of  the  Pacific  coast  were  soon  ex- 
hausted, when  ships  from  the  Atlantic  began 
coming  around  the  Horn,  when  every  part  of  the 
Pacific  began  to  hum  with  Alaskan  business,— 
the  tide  of  traffic  found  it  necessary  to  separate. 
One  part  of  it  sailed  through  the  Inside  Passage 
to  Skagway.  The  other  took  the  Outside  Pas- 
sage and  entered  through  St.  Michael.  It  is  not  a 
very  convenient  port,  it  is  true,  but  it  is  the  best 
there  is.  To  St.  Michael  came  all  the  heavy  mer- 
chandise, the  immense  stocks  of  goods  for  trad- 
ing and  for  individual  use.  This  port  thus  became 
the  gateway  to  the  fabulously  rich  gold  fields  of 
the  Yukon.  St.  Michael  is,  therefore,  a  large 
part  of  the  history  of  the  Klondike  stampede. 

The  White  Pass  and  Yukon  Company  is  a 
transportation  company  which  has  operated  for 
several  years  on  the  Yukon  with  headquarters  at 
Dawson,  Yukon  Territory.  This  company  be- 
lieved that  the  best  method  of  shipping  supplies 


42      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW] 

to  Alaska  would  be  to  bring  them  in  by  way  of 
Skagway,  then  over  the  White  Pass  and  Yukon 
Railroad  to  Dawson,  transferring  them  there  to 
the  White  Pass  boats  and  barges  and  floating 
them  thence  down  the  river  to  points  in  the 
interior.  The  Northern  Navigation  Company 
brought  its  freight  to  St.  Michael  by  way  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean  and  Bering  Sea.  It  was  then  load- 
ed on  boats  and  barges  and  pushed  up  the  river. 
What  was  a  disadvantage  to  the  White  Pass 
people  was  a  distinct  advantage  to  the  Northern 
Navigation  Company.  This  was  the  fact  that 
the  lower  part  of  the  Yukon  River  below  Lake 
Lebarge  was  free  from  ice  from  a  month  to  six 
weeks  earlier  than  that  part  of  the  river  which 
lay  between  Lake  Lebarge  and  Dawson.  The 
method  of  the  White  Pass  and  Yukon  Company 
held  an  unquestionable  advantage  in  the  saving 
of  fuel.  But  as  the  greater  number  of  the  prin- 
cipal mining  towns  and  supply  points  for  the  dif- 
ferent mining  districts  lay  below  Lake  Lebarge 
it  was  but  natural  that  large  shipments  of  freight 
for  early  summer  delivery  were  consigned  to  the 
Northern  Navigation  Company,  at  St.  Michael. 
A  great  rivalry  sprang  up  between  these  two 
companies.  Keen  competition  followed.  But  it 
was  soon  realized  that  each  was  working  under 
difficulties  which  ought  to  be  and  could  be  reme- 


ST.  MICHAEL  43 

died.  The  White  Pass  and  Yukon  Company  was 
dependent  upon  the  river  transportation  for  ex- 
istence. So  a  merger  of  the  two  seemed  vital  to 
the  interests  of  both.  In  June,  1914,  the  White 
Pass  and  Yukon  Company  bought  out  the  North- 
ern Navigation  Company,  thus  securing  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  Yukon  from  source  to  mouth.  The 
result  has  been  that  the  greater  portion  of  the 
freight  now  shipped  into  the  interior  of  Alaska 
is  taken  over  the  White  Pass  road  and  then  float- 
ed down  the  river.  This  has  seriously  affected 
St.  Michael,  of  course,  as  it  has  deprived  this  once 
busy  little  city  of  the  greater  part  of  her  rev- 
enue. 

As  is  the  case  in  all  new  countries  many  of  the 
companies  organized  during  this  busy  period  in 
Alaska's  history  have  now  passed  out  of  exist- 
ence, due,  no  doubt,  to  too  great  haste  in  the 
beginning.  The  Alaska  Commercial  Company 
was  not  slow  in  realizing  the  good  fortune  which 
had  come  to  her.  All  the  business  so  suddenly 
born  of  the  lure  of  the  gold  fields  was  tossed  into 
her  lap.  She  had  to  build  extensive  shipyards,  in- 
stall machine  shops  and  build  river  craft.  Stores, 
warehouses,  dwellings  and  an  hotel  were  built  at 
St.  Michael.  Rival  companies  were  organized, 
• — the  Alaska  Exploration  Company,  the  Alaska 
Development  Company,  and  many  others.  Only 


M      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

two  of  these  survived  for  any  length  of  time,  how- 
ever. One  was  a  Chicago  concern — the  North 
American  Trading  and  Transportation  Com- 
pany. The  other  was  the  Northern  Navigation 
Company.  For  a  while  these  flourished.  The 
establishment  of  the  former  was  across  the  Bay 
of  St.  Michael  and  was  a  little  town  in  itself. 
The  latter  was  on  the  island.  To-day,  these,  too, 
have  passed.  The  enterprises  were  not  a  success 
in  recent  years,  and  the  plants  are  deserted. 

St.  Michael  lies  about  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  miles  south  of  Nome.  It  is  hugged  by  the 
sea  and  therefore  gets  a  certain  amount  of 
"damp"  cold  in  winter  instead  of  the  "strong"  or 
the  "still"  cold  of  the  interior.  Also,  during  the 
winter  it  is  sometimes  tragically  stormy — terrific 
high  winds  with  no  forests  to  break  them.  In 
summer,  however,  it  is  delightful  and  most  pic- 
turesque. It  is  covered  by  the  tundra — Russian 
moss — always  fresh  and  beautiful,  lying  over  the 
island  like  a  robe  of  soft  green  velvet.  Plank 
sidewalks  line  the  streets,  extending  to  the  Army 
Post,  and  where  the  sidewalks  end  the  walking 
ends  also  in  summer.  To  step  off  is  to  sink  ankle 
deep  in  the  soft  green  moss. 

Under  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  native  races 
the  subject  of  the  natives  on  St.  Michael  will  be 
more  fully  dealt  with.  In  other  sections  of  Alas- 


ST.  MICHAEL  45 

ka  the  natives  are  largely  Indians.  Here  only 
the  Eskimo  is  to  be  seen.  The  visitor  will  en- 
counter him  everywhere  in  summer — in  the 
streets,  loafing  in  the  stores,  beaching  or  launch- 
ing his  boat  on  the  water  front,  clad  in  the  native 
costume,  the  parka,  made  of  drill  in  summer  and 
of  fur,  beautiful  in  design,  in  winter,  shod  in 
mukluJcs.  At  every  turn  one  will  find  their 
handiwork  for  sale — carved  ivories  from  walrus 
tusks,  baskets,  fur  boots.  Should  one  wish  an 
ivory  cribbage  board  there  is  no  other  place,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  Nome,  where  he  will  find 
so  large  a  variety  from  which  to  choose.  As  for 
the  Eskimo  woman, — well,  in  the  far  places  of 
the  world  where  there  is  little  civilization  and  no 
pretense  whatever  on  the  part  of  humanity  to  be 
other  than  wholly  natural  one  soon  becomes  ac- 
customed to  the  unusual !  There  is  no  commoner 
sight  in  St.  Michael  than  that  of  the  native 
mother  sitting  in  the  street  unconcernedly  feed- 
ing her  baby  (sometimes  two  of  them)  after 
Nature's  most  primitive  and  wholesome  method! 


CHAPTER  IV 

NORTHERN  LIGHTS 

A  LASKA  is  a  land  of  such  wild  beauty,  so 
•^*-  full  of  interest  and  charm,  that  it  seems  a 
pity  that  so  mistaken  an  idea  persists  in  re- 
gard to  her  climate.  Yet  that  it  does  persist 
is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at.  It  is  the  knowl- 
edge we  acquire  in  childhood  which  usually  abides 
with  us  longest.  So  the  preconceived  idea  which 
we  absorbed  in  our  youth  from  both  our  histo- 
ries and  our  geographies  is  hard  to  eradicate. 
"Our  country  purchased  this  cold  and  barren 
land  from  Russia,"  we  were  taught,  and  "Alaska 
is  noted  for  her  ice-covered  seas  and  her  glaciers." 
Furthermore,  when  that  far-sighted  statesman, 
W.  H.  Seward,  negotiated,  in  1867,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  this  great  territory  from  Russia,  the  ma- 
jority of  Americans  had  so  visualized  Alaska  as 
a  country  of  perpetual  snows  and  glaciers  that 
even  the  most  important  newspapers  and  jour- 
nals facetiously  referred  to  the  purchase  as  Se- 
tvard's  ice-box. 

Severe  climatic  conditions,  while  they  do  exist 

46 


NORTHERN  LIGHTS  47 

in  the  extreme  Arctic  regions,  are  by  no  means 
typical  of  the  country  as  a  whole.  The  greater 
part  of  Alaska  lies  in  the  North  Temperate  Zone. 
Southeastern  Alaska  is  comparatively  mild.  The 
Alaskan  Peninsula,  while  rather  frigid  in  winter, 
is  most  enjoyable  in  summer.  There  is  no  fact, 
seemingly,  which  is  so  hard  to  impress  upon  those 
who  have  never  visited  Alaska  as  that  in  regard  to 
the  "strong"  cold  of  the  interior.  Yet  it  is  a  fact 
that  if  one  is  prepared  for  it  he  does  not  find  it  un- 
comfortable. True,  for  six  months  of  the  year  the 
average  temperature  is  below  zero,  and  zero  in 
this  country,  instead  of  being  at  the  bottom  of  the 
thermometer,  is  half  way  up  the  scale !  Fifty  be- 
low is  often  recorded.  Eighty  below  is  not  un- 
usual. And  occasionally  the  mercury  freezes  and 

the  thermometer  refuses  to  register!     But . 

It  is  the  absolute  and  unvarnished  truth  that  the 
climate  of  the  interior  of  Alaska  is  fully  as  com- 
fortable in  winter  as  that  of  the  northern  part  of 
the  United  States, — much  more  comfortable  than 
in  those  states  and  cities  where  one  is  subjected  to 
fogs  and  dampness  in  addition  to  low  tempera- 
ture. I  have  been  colder  and  far  more  uncomfort- 
able in  both  Boston  and  Chicago  than  I  ever  was 
in  Alaska.  In  the  interior  there  is  practically  no 
wind,  no  dampness.  The  still,  dry  air  is  won- 
derfully invigorating,  and  heavily  charged  with 


48      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

electricity.  One  frequently  gets  a  shock  from 
shaking  hands,  while  a  kiss  for  one's  best  girl 
is  a  matter  for  prayerful  consideration! 

One  may  wear  in  the  Alaskan  cities  clothing 
of  the  same  quality  and  weight  as  that  worn  in 
the  States.  The  addition  of  a  fur  coat  will  make 
him  thoroughly  comfortable,  even  in  the  most  ex- 
treme weather.  This  is  not  true  of  the  trails, 
however.  One  must  resort  to  the  parka,  the 
native  costume  with  the  long  fur  boots,  if  he 
wishes  to  be  able  to  resist  the  cold. 

Spirit  thermometers  are  expensive  and  so  other 
means  of  taking  the  temperature  have  been  de- 
vised. Pain-killer  is  known  to  freeze  at  forty- 
five  and  alcohol  at  seventy-five  below  zero.  When 
the  still  cold  comes  on  the  pain-killer  is  put  out. 
When  it  freezes,  the  alcohol  replaces  it.  When 
the  latter  freezes  we  give  it  up  with  a  feeling  that 
it  really  does  not  matter  how  much  colder  than 
seventy-five  below  it  is! 

We  are  familiar  with  the  old  legend  to  the  ef- 
fect that  the  abode  of  the  Hyperboreans  was  in 
some  distant  region  far  beyond  the  North  Wind ! 
That  it  was  a  Paradise,  the  Elysian  Fields,  a 
land  of  perpetual  sunshine  and  marvelous  fertil- 
ity, inaccessible  by  land  or  by  sea!  I  have  often 
had  occasion  to  ponder  upon  this  legend  during 
my  various  journeyings  in  Alaska.  Did  you  ever 


NORTHERN  LIGHTS  49 

take  a  daylight  photograph  by  the  Midnight 
Sun?  I  have.  Did  you  ever  sun  yourself,  at 
midnight,  at  a  picnic?  Or  try  to  sleep  in  a  land 
where  there  is  no  such  thing  as  night?  Where 
there  are  twenty-four  hours  of  sunshine,  necessi- 
tating the  curtaining  of  the  windows  in  order  to 
be  able  to  keep  one's  eyes  closed  and  to  obtain 
for  both  eyes  and  nerves  that  real  rest  which 
comes  only  with  the  darkness?  I  have,  many 
times. 

Nowhere  else  in  all  the  world  are  there  such 
wondrous  tints  as  in  Alaska.  To  appreciate  the 
beauty  of  the  land,  however,  one  needs  must  be 
an  early  riser.  To  have  seen  the  marvelous 
change  which  comes  over  the  pure  whiteness  of 
the  snow-crowned  crests  between  the  darkness 
and  the  dawn!  The  tender  violet  becomes  to- 
paz, the  topaz  deepens  into  gold.  The  gold 
merges  into  burnished  copper,  the  copper  into 
rose,  the  rose  into  crimson,  and  then — the  day  is 
born!  No  man  can  see  the  dawn  break  over  the 
mountain  tops,  especially  if  it  be  in  a  lonely, 
sparsely-peopled  land,  without  feeling  as  did  the 
poet  when  he  wrote : 

"For  I  know  of  a  sun  and  a  wind, 
And  some  plains  and  a  mountain  behind, 
Where  there's  neither  a  road  nor  a  tree — 
Only  my  Maker  and  me!" 


50      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

In  Alaska,  as  elsewhere,  we  have  a  land  of 
contrasts,  it  is  true.  In  December  there  are  but 
two  and  a  half  hours  of  daylight.  At  noon  the 
sun  throws  long  horizontal  rays  and  on  cloudy 
days  the  colors  of  the  sunrise  merge  into  those 
of  the  sunset!  And  there  is  ever  the  long  twi- 
light— no  matter  what  time  of  the  year  it  may 
be.  On  the  shortest  day  there  are  slight  traces 
of  daylight  from  about  nine  until  three  o'clock. 

He  who  has  never  seen  the  winter  night  in 
Alaska  has  missed  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sights  in  the  whole  world.  In  many  other  cor- 
ners of  this  earth  I  have  watched  the  coming  of 
the  night  but  nowhere  else  has  it  ever  moved  me 
so  deeply.  Here,  as  nowhere  else,  "the  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God  and  the  firmament  show- 
eth  His  handiwork!"  How  many  times  have  I 
sat  in  my  door-way  and  watched  the  ending  of 
the  day.  If  there  have  been  a  few  flying  clouds 
during  the  afternoon  they  seldom  fail  to  clear  at 
evening.  One  by  one  the  stars  come  out.  From 
some  remote  darkness  long  meteors  slip  silently 
and  shoot  across  the  heavens,  leaving  phosphores- 
cent trails,  their  scattered  star  dust,  behind  them. 
The  features  of  the  distant  mountains,  so  lovable 
by  day,  become  grim,  hard,  forbidding,  when  at 
nightfall  they  gather  their  gray  hoods  about  their 


51 

heads  and  go  to  sleep,  standing!    Ah,  the  wild, 
weird  beauty  of  an  unpeopled  land! 

The  old  Italian  adage  "See  Naples  and  die!" 
never  fails  to  spring  to  my  mind  whenever  I  look 
out  upon  the  dark,  crisp,  bespangled  night  sky 
in  Alaska.  Over  all  its  other  brilliancy  the  vivid 
tones  of  the  Aurora,  flashes  of  green  and  red, 
shoot  riotously.  The  Northern  Lights !  Only  in 
Alaska  does  one  see  them  in  all  their  gorgeous 
glory !  If  sentiment  be  a  part  of  man's  make-up 
(and  where  is  he  who  can  deny  it?),  the  lover  of 
the  Land  of  Tomorrow  will  not  even  attempt  to 
stifle  in  his  heart  a  wish  that  is  almost  a  prayer. 
It  is  that  when  the  hour  shall  come  for  him  to 
venture  forth  into  that  undiscovered  country 
whence  no  traveler  returns,  the  Northern  Lights 
may  light  him  on  his  way! 


CHAPTER  V 

GREAT  OPPORTUNITIES 

IF  the  idea  that  Alaska  is  the  "land  of  ice  and 
snow"  is  gradually  disappearing  another  idea 
just  as  erroneous  seems  likely  to  take  its  place. 
This  is  that  Alaska  is  the  "land  of  gold." 
While  it  is  true  that  along  her  streams  and  in  the 
heart  of  her  mountains  lie  minerals  of  the  value 
of  which  no  man  can  speak  truly,  the  gold  mines 
of  Alaska  are  by  no  means  her  greatest  asset. 
Her  farms  and  fisheries,  her  enormous  coal  fields, 
the  thousand  and  one  opportunities  to  make 
money  which  do  not  exist  in  older  localities  are 
here  to  be  had  with  small  effort  and  little  or  no 
capital.  I  could  cite  many  instances  of  those  who 
have  acquired  wealth  in  this  country  from  almost 
infinitesimal  beginnings. 

A  wealthy  man  of  my  acquaintance  who  now 
owns  a  four  story  building  covering  a  whole  block 
in  Seattle  went  to  Nome  when  the  great  rush 
was  on.  Unlike  the  others  he  neither  sought  for 
gold  nor  located  mines.  All  he  possessed  was  a 
boat.  He  established  a  ferry  on  Snake  River, 

52 


GREAT  OPPORTUNITIES         53 

which  is  only  about  fifty  or  sixty  feet  wide.  He 
charged  twenty-five  cents  a  trip.  As  soon  as  he 
got  together  a  little  sum  he  bought  a  steamboat 
which  had  been  wrecked  on  the  river  and  con- 
verted it  into  a  lodging  house.  Two  years  later 
he  was  president  of  a  bank! 

This  is  only  one  instance  of  hundreds  which  are 
a  matter  of  personal  knowledge.  I  know  of 
four  sisters  who  came  to  this  country  after  a  hard 
struggle  in  the  States.  They  bought  a  few  wash 
tubs  and  opened  a  laundry.  Two  of  them  mended 
for  the  miners.  The  other  two  washed  and 
ironed.  They  netted  a  hundred  dollars  a  day! 
Two  of  them  married.  The  other  two  opened  a 
millinery  and  dry  goods  store.  They  made  a  for- 
tune. They  live  in  the  west  now  and  could  live  in 
affluence  if  they  so  desired.  They  have  invested 
in  government  bonds  and  other  safe  securities 
and  are  the  best  exemplification  of  the  possibil- 
ities of  the  Great  North  that  I  know. 

One  thing  which  I  should  like  to  make  plain 
and  which  is  an  item  of  value  to  the  prospective 
resident  is  this:  Alaska  is  a  country  where  un- 
fair dealing  or  trickery  is  not  tolerated.  In  the 
early  days  when  food  was  worth  its  weight  in 
gold,  when  one  was  forced  to  pay  fifteen  dollars 
for  an  oyster  stew  and  one  dollar  for  a  cup  of 
coffee,  this  fact  was  made  plain  and  nobody  has 


54      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

tried  it  since  to  my  knowledge.  A  fellow  who 
had  set  up  an  eating  house  was  caught  one  day 
putting  sperm  candles  in  the  soup  to  give  it  a 
rich  flavor.  The  miners  made  short  work  of  that 
man.  They  put  him  in  a  boat,  took  away  the 
oars  and  set  him  adrift  down  the  Yukon!  In 
my  first  years  in  this  country  the  appearance  of 
the  first  boat  which  got  through  the  ice  in  the 
spring  was  a  great  event.  We  knew  it  would 
bring  us  fresh  vegetables  and  eggs.  This  was 
before  the  days  when  we  raised  crops  of  any 
kind.  Cheerfully  we  paid  the  fabulous  prices 
for  tomatoes,  grape  fruit,  eggs  and  such  things. 
And  not  infrequently  we  ate  all  that  we  pur- 
chased at  one  sitting! 

In  listing  the  business  opportunities  in  Alaska 
perhaps  one  may  as  well  begin  with  that  most 
important  asset  of  any  country, — the  land  itself. 
Any  of  the  valleys  on  Cook  Inlet  contain  many 
acres  of  good  agricultural  land,  some  of  which 
is  timbered.  The  coast  line  from  Wrangell  to 
the  Aleutian  Peninsula,  split  by  many  streams, 
has  also  many  acres.  The  better  place  to  locate, 
however,  is  near  the  large  towns.  The  Susitna 
and  Matanuska  valleys  hold  the  coal  fields  and 
near  them  are  thousands  of  acres  where  the  wild 
hay  for  cattle  grows  in  great  abundance.  There 
is  much  less  loss  of  stock  in  Alaska  in  winter  than 


GREAT  OPPORTUNITIES         55 

in  Montana  and  the  Dakotas.  The  coldest  day 
on  the  Alaskan  coast  last  winter  south  of  the 
Aleutian  Islands  was  above  zero.  For  fifteen 
years  (and  this  is  as  long  as  the  records  have  been 
kept)  there  has  never  been  a  week  when  the 
average  temperature  has  been  as  cold  as  that  of 
New  York,  Washington  or  Philadelphia. 
Alaska's  climate  gives  the  lie  to  her  latitude. 

It  is,  of  course,  the  Japan  current  which  trans- 
forms this  part  of  Alaska.  What  magic  it  works, 
— this  warm,  life-giving  stream!  It  clothes  the 
northern  isles  in  green  vegetation,  makes  the 
silk-worm  flourish  far  north  of  its  rightful  locality 
and  brings  warmth  and  joy  to  the  dwellers  of 
the  Far  North. 

The  government  has  committed  itself  to  a  new 
policy  of  development  in  Alaska.  The  vast 
riches  of  this  country  are  not  to  be  exploited  at 
haphazard  or  at  the  whim  or  the  will  of  private 
corporations  or  individuals.  The  national  shoul- 
ders have  been  squared  to  the  task  of  developing 
the  country  and  her  resources  in  a  manner  con- 
servative, sane,  and  in  keeping  with  the  magni- 
tude of  the  interests  at  stake.  Practically  all 
the  land  and  natural  resources  of  the  country  are 
still  the  property  of  the  United  States. 

There  is  a  plan  on  foot  for  the  creation  of  a 
Development  Board,  to  be  appointed  by  the 


56      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

President  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  It  in- 
cludes the  voting  of  an  appropriation  sufficient 
to  obtain  men  of  ability  who  will  devote  them- 
selves to  the  task  and  who  will  live  in  Alaska! 
This  is  as  it  should  be.  Alaska's  interests,  now 
batted  back  and  forth  between  the  General  Land 
Office,  the  Forest  Service,  the  Road  Commission, 
the  Bureau  of  Mines,  the  Bureau  of  Education 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  would  all  be 
handled  by  one  body  whose  raison  d'etre  would 
be  the  welfare  of  Alaska.  All  her  activities  are 
closely  related.  All  are  a  part  of  one  huge  prob- 
lem and  all  should  be  directed  by  one  governing 
board. 

There  are  sixty-four  million  acres  of  agricul- 
tural land  in  Alaska  which  can  be  made  valuable 
for  tilling  and  grazing.  Some  of  this  is  already 
under  cultivation  but  there  is  not  yet  an  output 
more  than  sufficient  to  supply  the  home  markets. 
The  farming  area,  according  to  the  surveys  which 
have  been  made,  is  as  large  as  the  combined  area 
of  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Dela- 
ware, New  Jersey,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts, 
Vermont  and  New  Hampshire,  and  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  this  area 
ought  to  be  capable  of  supporting  a  population 
nearly  equal  to  that  supported  by  the  farm  prod- 
ucts of  these  states. 


"SIMROCK  MARY'S"  HERD  OF  REIXDEEH  COMIXG  OVER 

THE   HILL 


SLEDDEHS   OFF  FOR  PROVISIONS  FOR  THE   REINDEER 
HERDERS 


PRIBILOF  ISLANDS  WHERE  tmCI.E  SAM  PROTECTS  THE 
FUR  SEAL 


COUNTLESS  THOUSANDS  OF   "MUHRS"   HAVE   MADE  THIS 
ISLAND  THEIR  OWN 


GREAT  OPPORTUNITIES         57 

Almost  every  kind  of  a  crop  can  be  raised  in 
Alaska,  although  corn  will  not  grow  at  all  and 
the  soil  is  not  particularly  good  for  wheat.  But 
barley,  oats,  rye,  potatoes,  cabbages,  turnips,  to- 
matoes, and  nearly  all  the  common  garden  vege- 
tables have  been  grown  successfully.  The  pota- 
toes are  of  the  best  quality  and  run  several  hun- 
dred bushels  to  the  acre. 

Wild  fruits  grow  abundantly.  Nearly  every 
kind  of  berry  (except  the  cranberry)  can  be 
raised  here.  Only  two  years  after  the  terrible 
eruption  of  Mt.  Katmai,  on  the  Alaskan  Penin- 
sula just  opposite  Kodiak  Island,  the  ash-laden 
hillsides  were  again  covered  with  verdure.  The 
rich  green  grass  grew  as  high  as  a  man's  head 
and  it  really  seemed  that  the  eruption  was  the  best 
thing  that  had  ever  happened  for  Kodiak.  The 
grass  not  only  grew  high.  It  grew  much  earlier 
than  it  ever  had  before  and  the  berries  were  much 
larger  and  more  luscious  than  they  had  been  be- 
fore the  ash  covered  the  land.  The  berry  crop 
was  enormous.  Kodiak,  like  Ireland,  is  now  an 
"Emerald  Isle."  The  eastern  part  of  it  is  cov- 
ered with  a  magnificent  forest  of  spruce  beyond 
which  lies  luxuriant  grass  land,  the  abundance 
and  quality  of  which  for  hay  and  forage  is  not 
approached  by  any  grazing  land  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  equaled  only  by  the  ''guinea  grass" 


58      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

of  the  tropics.  At  present  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try is  almost  entirely  neglected.  But  one  of  these 
days  the  stock  raisers  of  the  world  will  wake  up. 
They  will  find  no  finer  spot  on  earth  for  the 
promulgation  of  their  industry  than  the  Island 
of  Kodiak. 

Of  the  berries  which  grow  in  Alaska  the  most 
important  is  the  "Molina"  berry.  In  shape  and 
appearance  it  is  much  like  our  blackberry,  or  a 
cross  between  the  blackberry  and  raspberry. 
When  picked  it  comes  loose  from  the  receptacle 
like  the  raspberry.  These  berries  grew  in  Kodiak 
before  the  eruption,  it  is  true,  but  they  were  much 
smaller  and  less  palatable  and  the  vines  were 
much  less  hardy  and  vigorous.  In  one  respect 
they  resemble  the  persimmon.  They  have  an 
astringent  taste  which  disappears  only  when  the 
berry  is  dead  ripe.  But  they  are  extremely  deli- 
cate of  flavor, — distinctive  in  that  they  resemble 
in  taste  nothing  else  that  I  know  and  when  served 
with  sugar  and  cream  they  are  excellent. 

There  are  two  varieties  of  blueberries.  One  is 
known  as  the  high-bush  blueberry  and  the  other 
is  known  as  the  low-bush  berry.  I  have  always 
thought  it  a  little  strange  that  the  cranberry  does 
not  grow  here.  Conditions  seem  good  for  it. 
But  it  does  not. 

When  the  railroad  is  completed  (which  will  be 


GREAT  OPPORTUNITIES         59 

soon) ,  when  the  farmer  has  an  outlet  for  his  prod- 
uce and  can  enter  the  markets  of  the  "Outside," 
the  future  of  Alaska  will  be  secured.  The  gov- 
ernment is  now  selling  the  land  at  most  reason- 
able rates.  For  four  hundred  dollars  one  can 
buy  a  three  hundred  and  twenty  acre  farm.  Pio- 
neers are  rapidly  taking  advantage  of  this  to  be- 
come independent  land  owners. 

Time  was  in  the  United  States  when,  beyond 
the  Mississippi,  Wilderness  was  King!  But  this 
did  not  prevent  the  settler  from  breaking  his  way 
through.  So  it  is  in  Alaska.  The  trees  are  be- 
iifig  hewn  down  for  clearings  and  in  those  clear- 
ings homes  are  springing  up.  More  men  each 
year  are  locating  homesteads  and  bringing  their 
families  with  them,  secure  in  the  knowledge  that 
their  children  can  be  educated  in  Alaskan  schools, 
fed  with  Alaskan  meat  and  vegetables,  their  bills 
paid  in  Alaskan  gold.  There  is  a  market  for 
everything  that  can  be  grown  and  this  market 
will  be  much  enlarged  by  the  increased  popula- 
tion which  the  railroad  will  bring.  Alaska  will 
soon  be  a  populous  and  prosperous  country  and 
will  one  day  ask  admission  to  the  Union.  When 
she  comes  in,  bringing  her  six  hundred  thousand 
square  miles,  she  will  be  the  largest  State.  Texas, 
so  long  the  giant,  will  be  a  dwarf  in  comparison. 

To  sum  up,  then,  the  opportunities  which  of- 


60      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

fer  themselves  in  Alaska, — there  are  (1)  cattle 
ranges  of  enormous  size;  (2)  immense  salmon 
shoals;  (3)  huge  tracts  of  farming  land;  (4) 
large  forests  (in  certain  sections)  of  fine  timber; 
(5)  an  almost  unlimited  supply  of  fur.  The 
United  States  has  no  tin  mines  except  in  Alas- 
ka. There  is  enough  coal  buried  under  the  soil 
to  keep  the  whole  world  warm  for  five  thousand 
years!  The  coal,  tin  and  gold  must  be  mined. 
Here  is  a  chance  for  large  numbers  of  workmen. 
The  fish  must  be  caught  and  canned.  The  can- 
neries employ  large  numbers  of  men.  But  the 
crying  need  of  the  country  is  for  homesteaders, 
because  the  agricultural  development  is  of  prime 
importance  to  Alaska  and  to  the  world.  The 
first  binder  operated  in  Fairbanks  in  19.11  and 
the  first  threshing  machine  in  1912.  In  time  im- 
plement houses  will  be  needed.  Manufacturing 
enterprises  offer  a  rich  field.  At  present  (1918) 
there  is  not  a  single  grain  mill  in  the  country. 
This  may  be  due,  however,  to  the  fact  that  there 
is  not  yet  a  large  enough  amount  of  grain  raised 
to  justify  the  building  of  mills.  But  in  time  there 
will  be.  There  is  unlimited  water  power  for  their 
operation. 

Mr.  Michael  O'Kee,  a  Yukon  Territory  gar- 
dener, is  regarded  as  the  Luther  Burbank  of 
Alaska.  He  has  specialized  in  berries  and  has 


GREAT  OPPORTUNITIES         61 

proved  that  they  may  be  grown  just  as  well 
around  the  Arctic  Circle  as  in  sun-kissed  Cali- 
fornia. Also,  he  has  grown  cabbages  weighing 
eighteen  pounds  with  heads  hard  and  sound. 

Reindeer  breeding  is  fast  becoming  an  impor- 
tant factor,  and  here  again  one  must  revert  to 
the  land.  Reindeer  need  space,  for  they  are  the 
beef  of  Alaska  and  must  have  pasturage.  This 
pasturage  is  always  to  be  had.  Reindeer  steaks 
are  and  have  been  for  a  long  time  regularly  quot- 
ed on  the  Seattle  markets.  That  they  will  one 
day  figure  conspicuously  in  our  meat  supply  can- 
not be  questioned.  Already  the  big  packing  con- 
cerns have  sent  their  representatives  to  look  over 
the  ground.  There  is  one  drawback  to  this  in- 
dustry, however,  which  will  have  to  be  adjusted 
and  regulated  before  it  can  become  profitable. 
The  cost  of  shipping  is  now  prohibitive.  Alas- 
ka has  now  a  hundred  thousand  reindeer.  With- 
in the  next  ten  years  she  will  have  three  million. 

A  well-known  mining  engineer  of  Los  Angeles 
who  has  recently  studied  the  resources  of  Alaska 
has  thus  summed  up  his  belief: 

(1)  The  reindeer  ranches  of  the  Far  North 
are  destined  to  solve  the  meat  question 
for  the  United  States. 

(2)  The  fisheries  of  the  north  coast  waters 


62      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

will  be  able  to  furnish  practically  all  the 
sea  food  for  the  entire  country  within  the 
next  century. 

(3)  The  gold,  copper  and  other  valuable 
mines  of  Alaska  have  scarcely  been 
scratched,  and  the  next  few  years  will  see 
an  Alaskan  boom  not  now  dreamed  of  by 
the  most  optimistic  business  men  of  the 
United  States. 


CHAPTER  VI 

POLITICS  AND  GOVERNMENT 

T  TNTIL  recent  years  one  administration  after 
*-J  another  completely  ignored  the  real  worth 
of  Alaska.  It  was  organized  as  a  "non-con- 
tiguous territory"  in  1886.  Not  until  seven- 
teen years  later  was  it  supplied  with  a  form  of 
government  of  any  kind,  and  even  then  the  laws 
of  Oregon  were  extended  to  it.  In  1899,  how- 
ever, gold  was  discovered  in  the  sand  on  the  beach 
at  Nome !  The  attention  of  Congress  was  prompt- 
ly directed  to  this  "non-contiguous  territory"  and 
the  next  year  (1900)  actual  civil  government 
was  granted.  In  1906  the  first  representative 
was  sent  to  Congress.  In  1912  a  territorial  as- 
sembly, with  limited  powers,  was  authorized. 

To  say  that  Alaska  has  suffered  and  been  hin- 
dered in  her  development  by  this  legislative 
apathy  on  the  part  of  Congress  would  be  putting 
it  mildly.  First  of  all,  one  of  the  greatest  needs 
of  any  new  country  was  wholly  lacking.  The 
absence  of  any  kind  of  a  criminal  code  was  a  bit 

appalling.    It  is  a  matter  of  record  that  once  the 

63 


64      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

settlers,  in  dire  need,  were  forced  to  seek  the  pro- 
tection of  the  English  navy!  There  was  also  a 
lack  of  proper  legal,  medical  and  educational 
facilities,  and  as  Alaska's  importance  increased 
she  became  a  helpless  victim  of  political  condi- 
tions some  of  the  results  of  which  were  serious. 
One  of  these  results  was  an  unnecessary  Forest 
Service.  Another  was  the  belated  opening  of  the 
coal  fields.  A  third  was  a  long  period  of  very 
meagre  transportation  facilities. 

The  discussion  of  all  these  important  matters 
by  government  officials  was  lengthy  and  pro- 
found. But,  as  usual,  wherever  and  whenever 
new  policies  are  projected  there  is  always  the 
pessimist  who  stubbornly  blockades  progress. 
Alaska  was  no  exception.  So  advance  in  her  af- 
fairs was  negligible. 

One  hears  much,  especially  in  these  restless 
days,  of  the  red  tape  which  results  from  the  lack 
of  coordination  in  our  government.  But,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  only  one  who  has  dwelt  in  Alaska  can 
appreciate  to  what  lengths  it  extends.  In  an 
article  published  not  long  ago  in  the  Outlook,  Mr. 
Franklin  K.  Lane,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  ex- 
pressed himself  forcibly  upon  this  subject  as  it 
concerned  Alaska,  making  use  of  the  following 
illustration: 


POLITICS  AND  GOVERNMENT    65 

"A  citizen  who  wished  to  lease  an  Alaskan 
island  for  fox  farming  carried  on  a  correspond- 
ence with  three  different  departments  of  the 
Federal  Government  for  several  months  in  an 
effort  to  find  out  which  had  jurisdiction  and 
authority  to  make  the  lease.  It  was  finally  de- 
cided that  none  of  them  did!" 

Further  investigation  brought  forth  the  fol- 
lowing astonishing  facts:  The  control  of  Alas- 
kan lands  is  in  one  department,  the  control  of 
forests  in  another.  The  control  of  roads  is  in  a 
third,  of  fisheries  in  a  fourth,  of  railroads  in  a 
fifth !  The  black  bear  is  entrusted  to  one  depart- 
ment and  the  brown  bear  to  another!  Cables 
and  telegraphs  comes  under  another  department, 
reindeer  and  the  native  races  under  still  another. 
Entry  for  homestead  or  mineral  land,  if  it  lie 
outside  the  national  forest,  is  made  through  one 
department,  if  within  the  national  forest  through 
another.  Timber  in  the  national  forest  is  sold 
at  auction  under  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture. Timber  outside  the  national  forest  is  sold 
(under  wholly  different  rules  and  regulations) 
under  the  Department  of  the  Interior.  One  may 
export  the  pulp  made  from  timber  in  the  public 
lands,  but  the  timber  itself  may  not  be  exported. 

A  child  could  readily  understand  how  all  this, 
or  much  of  it,  might  be  avoided  by  the  creation 


66      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

of  governmental  offices  in  Alaska  with  sufficient 
officers  to  get  over  the  large  territory  which  must 
be  covered.  As  a  further  illustration  of  what  all 
this  red  tape  means  to  those  desiring  to  live  in 
the  north  I  cite  a  case  (also  referred  to  by  Sec- 
retary Lane)  which  came  to  my  personal  knowl- 
edge. On  October  ninth,  1906,  Mrs.  Mary  A. 
Dabney,  of  Seattle,  filed  a  claim,  recording  the 
location  on  this  day.  The  survey  was  made  Sep- 
tember twenty-fourth,  1908.  It  was  approved 
by  the  Surveyor  General  January  twenty-first, 
1909.  Application  for  patent  was  made  March 
twenty-fourth,  1909.  There  was  no  protest 
against  the  validity  of  Mrs.  Dabney's  claim,  and 
no  conflicting  claims.  But  the  mineral  entry  was 
not  patented  until  October  seventeenth,  1913 — 
seven  years  after  the  claim  was  filed!  Had  there 
been  an  officer  on  the  ground,  with  power  to  act, 
with  authority  to  investigate  and  prepare  the 
case  for  the  General  Land  Office  all  this  long 
wait  would  have  been  avoided. 

This  lack  of  coordination  affects  almost  every 
phase  of  Alaskan  life  and  industry.  Certain 
islands  are  set  apart  as  bird  reserves  under  pro- 
tection (?)  of  the  Biological  Survey  which  sends 
a  keeper  in  summer  to  guard  one  or  two  of  the 
islands!  At  other  times  they  are  unprotected. 
Game  animals  are  supposedly  under  the  protec- 


POLITICS  AND  GOVERNMENT    67 

tion  of  wardens  hired  by  and  under  the  direction 
of  the  Governor  of  Alaska.  These  wardens  en- 
force the  rules  of  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture and  are  paid  out  of  the  appropriation  of  the 
Department  of  the  Interior!  Fur-bearing  ani- 
mals are  under  the  protection  of  wardens  ap- 
pointed by  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  work- 
ing under  the  regulations  of  the  Department  of 
the  Interior.  The  Department  of  Agriculture 
has  sole  authority  over  the  animals  which  are 
shipped  as  specimens  for  scientific  and  propagat- 
ing purposes,  except  reindeer,  which  are  con- 
trolled by  the  Department  of  the  Interior. 

Not  long  ago  it  was  discovered  by  the  Bureau 
of  Education  that  the  walruses  were  being 
slaughtered  by  the  wholesale.  As  this  is  a  menace 
to  the  food  supply  of  both  the  natives  and  their 
dogs  the  Bureau  at  once  reported  it  to  Washing- 
ton. The  report  was  turned  over  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  and  this  Department 
promptly  decided  that  the  killing  was  illegal. 
When  it  came  to  putting  into  motion  the  machin- 
ery to  stop  it,  however,  the  usual  thing  occurred. 
There  was  no  machinery  available  to  prevent  it. 

The  prize  story  along  this  line,  however,  is  the 
evidence  in  the  case  of  the  black  bear  versus  the 
brown  bear.  Some  years  ago  a  law  was  passed 
making  the  brown  bear  a  game  animal.  The 


68      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

law  was  intended  to  protect  the  Kodiak  bear, 
the  "great  brown  bear"  as  it  is  called.  So  the 
brown  bear  passed  under  the  control  of  the  De- 
partment of  Agriculture.  The  black  bear,  rec- 
ognized as  a  fur-bearing  animal,  remained  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Department  of  Commerce. 
And  then  the  fun  began!  Scarcely  a  litter  of 
black  bear  cubs  but  contains  one  or  more  brown 
ones!  To  which  Department  of  our  National 
Government  shall  the  little  brown  brothers  and 
sisters  be  awarded?  One  protests  against  the  sep- 
aration of  families  in  this  manner !  The  question 
we  are  asking  ourselves  and  which  yet  remains  to 
be  solved  is :  Is  a  brown  bear  of  Alaska  the  brown 
bear? 

The  Forest  Service  as  it  was  inaugurated  also 
proved  a  detriment.  Rules  and  regulations  which 
worked  well  in  the  States  could  not  be  intelligent- 
ly applied  to  Alaska.  As  an  illustration, — there 
was  a  territorial  law  in  force  at  the  time  the  Ser- 
vice took  charge  which  forbade  the  shipment  of 
timber  into  the  United  States.  Under  the  new 
Service,  timber  might  be  exported  provided 
stumpage  were  paid  to  cover  the  Service's  ex- 
penses. In  case  of  the  reserve  forest  on  the  Al- 
exander Archipelago,  however,  an  exception  was 
made.  This  forest  was  withdrawn  (it  was  said) 
in  order  that  the  timber  kings  could  not  rifle  it 


POLITICS  AND  GOVERNMENT    69 

for  export  purposes.  Yet .  The  old  territo- 
rial law  would  have  furnished  ample  protection 
and  would  have  been  a  better  measure  of  conser- 
vation than  the  one  introduced  by  the  Forest 
Service. 

Any  system  which  imposes  irritating  restric- 
tions (as  this  one  undoubtedly  did)  upon  the  pio- 
neers of  a  sparsely-peopled  country  is  a  mistake 
for  many  reasons.  Such  a  system  never  fails  to 
operate  against  itself.  And  this  system  proved 
a  boomerang.  Under  it  the  railroads,  wishing  to 
buy  Alaskan  lumber  for  construction  purposes, 
had  to  pay  for  it  at  the  stumpage  rates  of  the 
Forest  Reserve !  Meanwhile  Alaska  was  suffer- 
ing for  lack  of  transportation  facilities  and  it  is 
difficult  for  even  the  most  optimistic  conserva- 
tive enthusiast  to  see  improvement  in  such  meas- 
ures. 

The  belated  opening  of  the  coal  fields  was  but 
one  more  instance  of  the  legislative  indifference 
which  hindered  Alaska's  development.  Eastern 
coal  operators  were  shipping  coal  in  large  quanti- 
ties to  the  Pacific  coast.  In  Alaska  the  belief 
was  general  that  when  the  Panama  Canal  was 
once  in  operation  these  operators  would  intrench 
themselves  strongly  on  the  coast,  confident  that 
they  would  be  able  to  compete  with  operators 
from  Alaska  as  soon  as  the  latter's  coal  fields 


70      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

were  released.  Naturally,  the  first  man  on  the 
ground  would  have  the  advantage  and  the  Alas- 
kans grew  almost  desperate  as  time  went  by  and 
the  troublesome  situation  was  not  relieved.  In 
1914,  however,  a  bill  was  passed  in  Congress 
which  authorized  the  leasing  of  the  coal  fields  and 
permitted  the  lessee  to  rent  two  thousand  five 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  at  a  yearly  rental  of  one 
dollar  an  acre,  this  to  be  applicable  on  the  roy- 
alty demanded,  which  was  two  cents  a  ton. 

In  the  matter  of  highways  Alaska  was  also 
handicapped.  Wheeled  traffic  here  was  out  of 
the  question  until  roads  were  built.  Railroads 
which  can  not  touch  the  interior  are  limited  as  to 
their  usefulness.  The  highways  are  of  paramount 
importance  to  the  development  of  any  country. 
But  a  Board  of  Commissions  for  Alaska  was  or- 
ganized a  few  years  ago  and  since  then  the  build- 
ing of  roads  has  increased. 

Even  in  the  face  of  all  these  handicaps  and  dif- 
ficulties, however,  we  are  not  pessimistic.  In 
time  they  will,  they  must,  adjust  themselves.  As 
soon  as  sufficient  roads  are  built  to  enable  set- 
tlement it  will  be  only  a  question  of  time  (and  a 
short  time  at  that)  until  Alaska  will  become  self- 
supporting.  Her  vast  resources  can  not  be  dealt 
with  singly.  They  must  be  dealt  with  as  a  whole, 
once  the  United  States  grasps  Alaska's 


POLITICS  AND  GOVERNMENT    71 

needs  and  conditions,  when  her  receipts  and  dis- 
bursements pass  through  a  single,  responsible 
Board  which  shall  each  year  report  to  Congress 
the  revenues  and  expenses,  the  government  will 
undoubtedly  form  an  Alaskan  budget  which  will 
render  legislation  in  her  behalf  much  simpler 
and  more  intelligent. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  PARALLEL  STEEL  BARS 

AS  is  the  case  in  all  new  countries  the  most 
serious  problem  that  has  yet  confronted 
Alaska  has  been  the  lack  of  railroads.  All 
men  recognize  that  in  the  parallel  steel  bars  lie 
the  means  of  unlocking  the  treasures  of  an  em- 
pire. In  them  rest  the  future  successful  or  un- 
successful attempts  to  develop  the  resources  of 
any  new  land. 

When  the  importance  of  building  railroads  in 
Alaska  became  apparent  the  old,  old  serpent,  the 
cobra  of  civilization,  raised  its  head  and  spread 
its  hood.  Should  those  roads  already  built  in 
the  country  be  left  to  private  interests,  such  as  the 
Morgan- Guggenheim  Syndicate,  at  the  risk  of 
a  possibly  unfair  monopoly  in  the  future?  Or 
should  the  United  States  own  and  control  them? 
The  question  was  long  and  strongly  argued.  But 
the  matter  was  definitely  decided  on  March 
twelfth,  1914,  when  Congress  voted  in  favor  of 
government  ownership. 

The  President  was  directed  to  "locate,  build, 
72 


THE  PARALLEL  STEEL  BARS    73 

or  purchase  and  operate"  a  system  of  railroads 
at  a  cost  not  to  exceed  thirty-five  million  dollars. 
William  C.  Eads  was  made  Chairman  of  the 
Railroad  Commission.  Construction  was  com- 
menced in  1915,  with  Anchorage,  on  Cook  Inlet, 
for  a  base.  The  Alaska  and  Northern  Railway 
was  purchased  and  became  a  part  of  the  new 
system.  The  road,  beginning  at  Seward,  was  to 
run  along  the  southern  coast  through  the  Sus- 
itna  Valley  and  Broad  Pass  to  the  Tanana  River, 
with  a  terminal  at  Fairbanks.  Its  length,  in- 
cluding a  short  branch  to  the  Matanuska  coal 
fields,  was  to  be  five  hundred  and  four  miles. 

In  eight  months'  time  a  right  of  way  was 
cleared  for  forty  miles  and  thirteen  miles  of  track 
laid.  Then  came  a  halt.  The  inevitable  labor 
troubles  broke  forth.  These  were  finally  ad- 
justed, however,  and  the  construction  resumed, 
and  it  was  hoped  by  the  fall  of  1917  to  reach  the 
Menana  coal  fields,  about  a  hundred  miles  south 
of  Fairbanks. 

We  are  prone  to  believe  that  when  the  money 
to  build  a  railroad  has  been  appropriated  the 
most  important  and  difficult  part  of  the  job  is  ac- 
complished. This  is  a  huge  mistake.  For  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  to  vote  thirty-five 
million  dollars  to  build  a  railroad  in  Alaska  was 


74      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

easy.  To  build  that  road  was  an  herculean  under- 
taking. 

Fairbanks  is  the  geological  center  of  the  coun- 
try. To  reach  it  from  the  coast  the  engineer  must 
break  through  a  wilderness  of  forest  and  moun- 
tains, swamps  and  glaciers.  They  must  haul  a 
great  quantity  of  material  by  sledges  in  winter  so 
that  the  construction  of  many  special  roads  may 
not  be  necessary.  The  experience  gained  in 
Panama,  and  the  recent  opening  of  the  coal  mine 
near  the  road  already  completed,  helped  consid- 
erably, but  the  perils  involved  in  engineering  in 
Alaska,  coupled  with  the  rigorous  winter  weather, 
are  those  of  all  similar  projects  multiplied  by 
ten! 

To  illustrate  by  but  one  instance  (and  it  will 
give  some  idea  of  the  labor  involved)  in  the  first 
forty  miles  of  the  line  there  are  sixty-seven 
bridges !  Many  of  them  span  deep  and  almost  in- 
accessible canons.  During  the  winter  months 
the  snow,  sometimes  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet 
deep,  had  to  be  removed  before  the  work  could 
be  carried  on,  and  during  the  time  of  building  the 
temperature  varied  little.  It  was  twenty  to  forty 
below  zero  all  the  time!  Nevertheless  the  men 
worked  courageously  on  and  spring  found  them 
far  on  the  way. 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  feats  of  engineering 


THE  PARALLEL  STEEL  BARS    75 

that  has  yet  been  achieved  was  accomplished  dur- 
ing the  building  of  the  Copper  River  railroad  in 
Alaska.  To  me  it  seemed  little  short  of  phenom- 
enal. It  was  necessary  to  span  Miles  Glacier. 
The  bridge  is  fifteen  hundred  feet  long.  There 
is  a  double  turn  in  the  river  here,  and  it  flows  be- 
tween the  two  faces  of  the  Miles  and  Childs  gla- 
ciers, both  "living,"  a  sheer  three  hundred  feet. 
The  engineers  were  well  aware  that  when  the 
spring  "break-up"  should  come,  thousands  of  ice- 
bergs would  come  battering  down  the  defile. 
Would  it  be  possible  to  erect  a  bridge  with  four 
spans,  the  abutments  of  which  could  be  made  suf- 
ficiently strong  to  withstand  the  onslaught  of 
these  icebergs,  propelled  as  they  were  by  the 
twelve  mile  current  of  the  river  ?  Everybody  (ex- 
cept the  engineers)  declared  it  impossible. 

When  I  remember  how  intensely  interested 
I  myself  became  in  watching  the  progress  of 
this  wonderful  building  I  often  wonder  what  the 
feelings  must  have  been  of  those  to  whom  suc- 
cess or  failure  meant  so  much, — the  builders 
themselves.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  tenseness 
of  the  closing  days  of  that  undertaking, — the 
grim,  silent  determination  written  in  the  faces  of 
those  men!  In  spite  of  the  Doubting  Thomases 
(of  whom,  I  confess,  I  was  one)  the  thing  was 
triumphantly,  gloriously  accomplished. 


76     THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

It  was  at  the  cost  of  two  years  of  the  stiffest 
fighting  that  Man  has  ever  put  up  against  Na- 
ture. The  great  concrete  piers,  begun  through 
the  winter  ice,  were  driven  forty  to  fifty  feet 
through  the  river  bottom  and  there  anchored. 
The  solid  concrete  was  reinforced  with  steel.  A 
row  of  eighty  pound  rails,  set  a  foot  apart  all 
around,  the  whole  structure  bound  together  with 
concrete,  were  placed  next.  Then  above  the 
piers,  ice-breakers,  similarly  constructed,  were 
planted. 

It  was  conceded  in  the  beginning  that  no  false 
work  would  stand  against  the  battering  ice. 
Therefore  the  work  of  connecting  the  piers  with 
the  steel  road-way  must  be  done  in  winter.  It 
was  a  cruel  and  trying  task.  The  weather  did 
its  worst.  It  was  bitter  cold.  Snow  storms  wefe 
practically  continuous.  The  piercing  wind  blew 
sixty  to  ninety  miles  an  hour  and  the  fine  parti- 
cles of  snow  hurled  by  the  gale  cut  and  stung 
one's  face  like  shot. 

When  the  last  span  was  almost  in  place  there 
came  a  most  appalling  moment.  The  "false 
work,"  as  the  supports  are  technically  called  and 
which  in  this  case  consisted  of  two  thousand  piles 
driven  forty  feet  into  the  bottom  of  the  river, 
suddenly  moved  fifteen  inches!  The  ice,  a  solid 
sheet,  was  borne  on  a  twelve  knot  current.  Into 


THE  PARALLEL  STEEL  BARS    77 

it  the  piles  had  been  frozen  as  solidly  as  a  rock. 
The  spring  break-up  had  begun  in  the  river.  The 
ice-cap,  lifted  twenty  feet  above  its  winter  bed, 
began  to  move! 

The  false  work  with  its  mass  of  unfinished  steel 
was  fifteen  inches  out  of  plumb.  Not  to  get  it 
back  meant  that  communication  with  the  other 
side  could  not  be  established  that  winter.  The 
engineers  recognized  that  at  any  moment  the 
whole  span,  supports  and  all,  might  be  carried 
away.  The  magnitude  of  the  fight  they  would 
have  to  put  up  in  order  to  prevent  this  was  real- 
ized by  all  of  them.  But  they  determined  not 
to  lose  heart. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  scene  which  followed. 
It  was  like  a  huge  motion  picture  and  I  have  al- 
ways regretted  that  a  camera  man  was  not  at 
hand  to  preserve  it.  Steam  from  every  available 
engine  was  turned  into  every  available  feed 
pipe.  Every  man  in  camp  was  put  to  work  chop- 
ping the  seven-foot  ice  away  from  the  piles.  At 
last  this  was  done.  That  which  followed  was  the 
climax  of  the  picture.  It  was  a  scene  which  could 
never  fade  from  the  memory  of  him  who  saw  it. 
During  that  stinging  Arctic  day  and  the  night 
which  followed  it,  during  which  the  river  rose 
twenty-one  feet,  the  piles  were  kept  free  from  ice 
while  hundreds  of  cross-pieces  were  unbolted! 


78     THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

Then  the  shifting  into  place  began, — at  first  but 
one  inch  a  day,  then  two,  three,  then  four  inches 
a  day.  The  melting  and  the  chopping  went  on 
unceasingly,  no  one  daring  to  relax  his  vigilance 
for  one  moment  unless  there  was  a  man  at  his 
elbow  to  take  his  place.  Anchorages  were  quick- 
ly made  in  the  ice  above  the  bridge.  Feverishly 
every  man,  from  the  chief  engineer  to  the  last 
laborer,  worked  while  that  whole  four  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  of  intricate  bridge  work  was 
coaxed,  inch  by  inch,  back  into  its  place.  Final- 
ly, at  midnight,  after  an  eighteen  hour  day  of 
one  shift,  the  anxious  and  weary  men  had  the 
happiness  and  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the  great 
span  settle  down  on  its  concrete  bed.  The  last 
bolt  was  driven  in.  One  hour  later, — the  river 
broke  loose !  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  record 
it  the  whole  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  false 
work  was  a  pile  of  chaotic  wreckage.  But  the 
river  had  been  vanquished.  It  had  lost  the  fight 
by  a  single  hour !  The  people  of  Alaska  and  the 
United  States  Government  can  never  sufficiently 
reward  such  men  as  these.  Mere  money  can  not 
pay  for  such  achievement. 

In  contrast  to  the  strenuous  experience  just 
related  the  builders  of  the  White  Pass  and  Yu- 
kon road  had  a  most  amusing  episode  to  record. 
The  bears  in  the  vicinity  got  altogether  too 


THE  PARALLEL  STEEL  BARS    79 

friendly.  At  first  the  blasting  frightened  them. 
But  they  soon  learned  to  follow  the  example  of 
the  men  and  scuttle  to  shelter  until  it  was  over. 
They  became  so  crafty  that  nothing  which  could 
possibly  be  eaten  was  safe  unless  some  one 
watched  it  night  and  day.  The  bears  actually 
learned  to  recognize  the  warning  shouts  of  the 
foreman  and  to  secrete  themselves  so  cunningly 
that  in  the  temporary  absence  of  the  men  they 
could  sneak  out  of  their  hiding  place  and  steal 
the  contents  of  the  workmen's  dinner  pails!  It 
might  have  been  funny  had  it  not  been  that  the 
men  were  often  far  from  a  base  of  supplies  and 
facing  the  possibility  of  starvation. 

Now,  in  Alaska  we  have  a  method  of  dealing 
with  thieves  which  is  usually  effective,  but  in  this 
case  it  did  not  work.  The  bears  could  not  read! 
Every  dweller  in  Alaska  has  heard  the  story  of 
William  Yanert.  He  came  into  the  country  from 
God-knows-where  and  built  himself  a  cabin  in 
the  Yukon  Flats.  He  calls  his  abode  "Purga- 
tory." Nobody  knows  why  he  lives  there  or  what 
particular  sin  he  is  accepting  punishment  for,  as 
the  name  of  his  cabin  would  indicate.  We  do  not 
often  ask  questions  on  such  subjects  in  Alaska. 
And  Yanert  seems  absolutely  contented  with  his 
lot!  When  the  Mounted  Police  began  driving 
undesirable  characters  out  of  Dawson,  however, 


80      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

Yanert  returned  several  times  from  hunting  trips 
to  find  that  his  cabin  had  been  robbed  of  supplies 
which  he  had  laid  in  for  the  winter.  He  resolved 
that  the  next  time  he  left  home  he  would  leave 
warning,  and  while  he  was  pondering  upon  the 
most  effective  method  of  doing  so  he  heard  a  noise 
at  the  back  of  his  house  and  went  to  investigate. 
He  peeped  out  and  saw  a  Canada  jay  (known 
commonly  in  Alaska  as  a  "whisky- jack"  or  a 
"camp-robber")  picking  away  at  his  bacon.  He 
shot  the  bird.  Then  with  the  grimmest  sort  of 
humor  he  buried  it  in  a  full-sized  grave,  shaping 
it  just  as  though  a  man  were  lying  there.  He 
fashioned  a  headboard  on  which  he  painted  in 
letters  so  heavy  that  none  could  fail  to  read : 

HE 

ROBBED  MY  CAMP  AND  I 
SHOT  HIM. 

Yanert  had  no  further  trouble  with  looters. 

The  importance  and  the  significance  of  the  con- 
struction of  the  government  railroad  are  things 
which  can  be  rightly  appreciated  only  by  those 
who  live,  or  have  lived,  in  Alaska.  In  another 
year  (1919)  unless  delayed  by  the  war,  Pull- 
man cars  for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of 
passengers  will  be  running  from  Fairbanks  to 
the  sea.  Freight  cars  will  carry  the  great  re- 


THE  PARALLEL  STEEL  BARS    81 

sources  of  the  country  from  "Interior"  to  "Out- 
side." But  while  these  things  mean  much  to 
Alaska  there  is  one  thing  which  means  much 
more.  This  is  the  construction  of  a  government 
railroad  leading  into  the  United  States!  This 
is  a  thing  I  have  not  even  heard  discussed  and 
the  possibility  of  such  an  enterprise,  so  far  as  I 
know,  has  not  yet  been  sounded.  Only  two- 
fifths  of  Alaska  is  mapped !  But  one  has  but  to 
stop  and  think  a  moment  in  order  to  realize  that 
such  a  road  would  be  of  untold  value.  And  this 
value  is  not  alone  commercial,  by  any  means.  Is 
not  Alaska  a  country  worth  having?  I  think  so. 
America  thinks  so.  Japan  thinks  so!  It  is  by  no 
means  outside  the  possibility  of  conception  that, 
coveting  her,  she  may  one  day  attempt  to  pos- 
sess her.  In  the  event  of  such  a  contingency,  un- 
less conditions  are  altered  (and  that  without  de- 
lay), Alaska  may  one  day  be  lost  to  us.  She  is 
now  reached  only  by  the  sea.  Soldiers  and  sail- 
ors must  enter  the  country  by  that  route.  How 
about  a  transport  or  a  battleship?  In  time  of 
war  would  they  be  able  to  reach  Alaskan  ports? 
These  are  questions  on  which  the  thoughtful 
will  not  fail  to  ponder.  Alaska's  one  defense  in 
time  of  need  would  be  the  army,  and  that  army, 
in  order  to  reach  her,  would  have  to  run  the 
gauntlet  of  a  naval  enemy's  fleet.  The  gravity  of 


82      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

such  a  situation  would  be  much  lessened  by  the 
ability  to  transport  military  forces  (whether  the 
times  be  those  of  peace  or  war)  to  Alaska  via 
a  Canadian- American  railroad! 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FLOWERS  AND  BIRDS  OF  THE  NORTHLAND 

WHENEVER  I  look  back  over  the  pleas- 
urable experiences  which  belong  to  the 
years  I  have  spent  in  the  Northland  I  find 
my  thoughts  dwelling  upon  my  first  sum- 
mer in  St.  Michael.  Here  the  summer  comes  al- 
most in  a  day,  and  following  upon  the  heels  of 
a  rigorous  winter  so  closely,  the  contrast  is  lit- 
tle short  of  startling.  Knowing  naught  of  this 
sudden  transformation,  I  was  not  prepared  for 
it.  But  I  well  recall  a  day  in  June  when  I  looked 
out  from  my  door-way  and  wondered  whether 
there  could  be  another  spot  on  earth  so  beautiful. 
Gone  instantly  was  every  memory  of  the  dark, 
bleak  months  that  had  just  passed.  The  snow 
still  lingered  on  the  distant  mountain  tops,  it  is 
true.  Great  masses  of  pure  white  clouds  rolled 
upon  the  intensely  blue  sky.  The  vegetation  was 
in  all  its  vivid  freshness,  the  tundra  carpeted  with 
flowers.  Even  the  reeking  Arctic  moss  itself  had 
burst  into  myriad  brilliant  flowers.  It  was  the 
season  of  perpetual  day, — twenty-four  long  hours 

83 


84      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

of  continuous  sunshine.  Nature  seemed  to  be  re- 
joicing in  her  own  beauty  and  all  the  green  things 
of  the  earth  praised  God ! 

I  can  not  resist  the  temptation  to  devote  a 
small  space  to  the  flowers  and  birds  of  Alaska. 
Even  I  who  lived  a  good  many  years  in  our  own 
golden  west,  where  flowers  are  by  no  means  a 
scarcity,  or  a  rarity,  always  feel  a  tendency  to  en- 
thuse and  become  expansive  when  I  think  of  the 
beauteous  wild  flowers  of  the  Northland.  They 
lift  their  dainty  heads  out  of  the  tundra  and  seem 
to  smile  radiantly  at  you  as  you  pass. 

I  confess  that  when  I  saw  the  tundra  first  it 
did  not  make  any  particular  hit  with  me!  And 
this  feeling  is  shared  by  many  when  first  they 
come.  I  recall  one  of  our  Alaskan  poets  who 
must  have  shared  it,  for  I  find  among  his  effu- 
sions a  couplet  to  this  effect: 

"Sometimes  it's  as  soggy  as  sawdust! 
Sometimes  it's  as  soft  as  a  sponge!" 

Like  many  others  I  had  gone  to  Alaska  with 
a  mental  picture  of  a  great,  snow-covered  ex- 
panse which  stretched  away  for  illimitable  miles 
in  loneliness  and  silence.  But  one  day  as  I 
walked  along  I  suddenly  saw — a  little  yellow 
flower.  I  began  to  wonder  whether  wild  flowers 
grew  here.  A  little  investigation  brought  aston- 
ishing results. 


FLOWERS  AND  BIRDS  85 

I  found  yellow  poppies  as  much  at  home  as  in 
my  own  California!  Daisies,  both  white  and 
yellow!  There  is  a  little  blossom  resembling  in 
form  and  grace  the  sweet  pea,  but  it  is  a  rich, 
deep  indigo  blue.  I  do  not  know  its  name,  or 
whether  it  has  a  name.  The  tiny  blue  forget-me- 
nots,  the  beautiful  gold-and-purple  iris,  dainty 
anemones,  and  many  others  which  I  know  not 
how  to  name.  There  is  a  starry  white  flower 
like  a  cherry  blossom,  a  yellow  bloom  resembling 
a  cowslip.  There  is  the  blue  corn-flower,  the 
wild  heliotrope,  immortelles,  purple  asters,  vio- 
lets and,  most  interesting  of  all,  a  purple  bleed- 
ing-heart! Why  purple,  I  wonder?  In  addition 
to  these  there  are  beautiful  wild  grasses,  exqui- 
site mosses  with  wondrous  weeping  tendrils  and 
star-like  blossoms.  And  there  is  a  little  crim- 
son vine  which  grows  like  patches  of  red  velvet 
and  clings  very  close  to  the  green  moss. 

I  grew  to  love  the  tundra,  whatever  the  time  or 
the  season.  From  the  first  warm  days  of  the 
spring  until  the  snow  came  swishing  down  and 
wrapped  it  in  its  soft  white  blanket,  I  enjoyed 
its  every  mood.  In  summer  it  is  as  beautiful  as 
the  seemingly  more  favored  spots  of  the  earth. 

In  winter .  There  is  always  the  great,  white, 

silent  expanse  which  one  grows  to  love  also.  For 
I  find  the  feeling  to  be  general  among  those  who 


86      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

live  in  the  Northland  that  it  is  not  in  her  milder 
moods  that  Alaska  calls  to  us  loudest.  One  is 
most  deeply  conscious  of  hidden  and  gigantic 
forces, — untrodden  heights,  to  which  one  can 
never  attain,  even  in  spirit !  There  may  be  those 
who  hold  that  the  tundra  is  desolate,  dreary.  Not 
I! 

The  most  striking  of  all  the  wild  flowers  that 
I  have  ever  seen  in  Alaska  is  a  species  of  white 
claytonia.  It  grows  in  rings  as  large  as  a  dinner 
plate.  These  floral  rings  are  dropped  here  and 
there  upon  the  green  moss  and  in  the  center  of 
the  ring  is  a  rosette  of  pointed  green  leaves 
pressed  close  to  the  ground.  Around  this  rosette 
grows  the  ring  of  flowers  made  up  of  forty  or 
fifty  individual  blossoms,  all  springing  from  the 
same  root,  their  faces  turned  outward  from  the 
green  rosette.  In  certain  places  these  circles 
grow  so  close  together  that  one  can  scarcely  walk 
without  stepping  upon  them. 

In  addition  to  the  wild  flowers  there  are  many 
cultivated  ones.  In  Skagway,  Fairbanks,  and  the 
other  large  towns,  the  garden  flowers  grow  pro- 
fusely. Their  only  enemy  is  the  southerly  trade 
winds  which,  on  summer  afternoons,  frequently 
rise  suddenly  and  keep  everybody  busy  devising 
some  means  of  protection  for  the  tall  growing 
plants.  For  the  plants  grow  very  tall.  Think 


FLOWERS  AND  BIRDS  87 

of  sweet  peas  nine  feet  high  which  have  had  no 
special  cultivation!  Pansies  three  inches  across! 
Asters  seven  and  dahlias  ten  inches  in  diameter! 
I  have  in  mind  one  garden  I  saw  which  contained 
nineteen  different  kinds  of  flowers  blooming  at 
once,  among  them  some  gorgeous  roses,  and  they 
were  in  bloom  from  June  first  to  October  first. 
No.  We  are  not  shut  away  from  the  beautiful 
because  we  live  within  sight  of  the  Arctic  Cir- 
cle! Garden  parties  here  rival  those  I  have  at- 
tended in  the  States,  and  I  find  that  human  na- 
ture is  the  same  the  world  over!  There  is  no 
nook  or  corner  of  God's  earth  where  one,  if  he 
seeks,  will  not  find  exquisite  beauty  lavished  im- 
partially and  unstintedly  by  Mother  Nature,  and 
warm  and  kindly  hearts  as  well ! 

The  birds  of  Alaska  are  many  and  beautiful. 
In  fact,  in  one  section  or  another  of  the  country 
most  of  the  birds  common  to  the  north  temperate 
zone  are  to  be  found.  Of  the  larger  ones  the 
ptarmigan,  grouse,  gulls  and  carrier  pigeons  are 
most  common.  A  few  years  ago  the  owners  of 
carriers  discovered  to  their  astonishment  and  dis- 
may that  the  latter  were  mating  with  the  gulls  to 
the  ruination  of  both  birds  and  it  became  neces- 
sary to  separate  them.  Alaska  is  also  the  home 
of  the  raven  and  the  crow.  And  the  former  is 
quite  the  most  talkative  creature  in  the  country! 


88      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

When  he  has  no  other  birds  to  chatter  with  he 
talks  to  himself,  and  like  the  buzzard  of  the  south- 
ern countries,  he  acts  as  scavenger.  The  ravens 
are  much  more  numerous  than  the  crows. 

There  is  a  long,  low,  wooded  stretch  of  land 
twenty  miles  below  Muir  Glacier  in  which  orni- 
thologists have  observed  and  collected  specimens 
of  more  than  forty  species  of  birds.  Of  song 
birds,  we  have  the  golden-crowned  sparrow,  the 
Alaska  hermit  and  russet-back  thrush.  The 
plaintive  song  of  the  hermit  thrush  is  so  appeal- 
ing. It  consists  of  but  three  notes.  But  its  song 
is  full  of  beauty,  of  mystery,  of  pathos.  There 
are  also  the  grossbeak,  the  gray-cheeked  thrush, 
the  Oregon  robin,  the  western  robin,  kinglet, 
warbler,  redstart,  Oregon  junco,  and  a  species  of 
sparrow  not  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

In  speaking  of  the  birds  of  the  Northland  one 
must  not  omit  to  mention  the  albatross.  I  shall 
always  remember  one  that  I  observed  following 
the  boat  on  which  I  was  crossing  Prince  William 
Sound.  I  could  well  imagine  the  feelings  of  the 
Ancient  Mariner  as  I  watched  it, — first  on  one 
side  of  the  boat  and  then  on  the  other,  dipping, 
curving,  slanting,  but  always  on  straight,  unbend- 
ing wing!  Like  an  experienced  swimmer  its  mo- 
tion was  in  long,  graceful  strokes.  It  flew  ap- 
parently without  effort,  as  though  it  gave  no 


A  TYPICAL  TAXXAXA  VALLEY  GARDEN 


THE   TRAIL    N  I.  \l(    WHANGELL   IX   SUMMER. 
XOTE   THE  BEAUTY  OF  THE   WOODS 


LAXE,   XEAR  SITKA,  GCARDED  BY  TOTEM   POLES 


FLOWERS  AND  BIRDS  89 

thought  to  where  its  next  flight  would  take  it. 
I  could  quite  understand  how  the  superstitious 
might  look  upon  it  as  some  spirit  from  the  deep 
which  sought  to  cast  a  spell  over  him  and  lure 
him  on  to  shipwreck  and  to  death.  The  gulls 
fly  gracefully,  as  do  also  the  Arctic  terns.  But 
the  flight  of  the  albatross  is  unlike  that  of  any 
other  bird  I  have  ever  seen. 

Of  water  fowl  there  are  also  the  pomarine  and 
the  long-tailed  jaeger  and  the  king  eider  duck. 
The  pomarine  jaeger  is  most  peculiar  of  shape, 
especially  while  flying,  and  has  a  cruel-looking 
beak.  The  plumage  of  the  male  king  eider  is  very 
brilliant  and  beautiful  during  the  breeding  sea- 
son. 

The  finest  singing  bird  in  the  country  is  the 
Lapland  longspur.  In  color,  flight,  and  its  bub- 
bling, liquid  music,  it  suggests  the  bobolink.  In 
fact,  it  is  often  referred  to  as  "the  bobolink  of  the 
North,"  and  what  bird  lover  does  not  know  the 
lines  of  our  beloved  John  Burroughs  who  after 
lying  on  his  back  under  a  tree  for  two  hours  pa- 
tiently waiting  until  it  should  please  his  majesty, 
the  northern  bobolink,  to  sing  for  him,  wrote : 

"On  Unalaska's   emerald  lea, 

On  lonely  isles  in  Bering  Sea, 
On  far  Siberia's  barren  shore, 
On  north  Alaska's  tundra  Boor, 


90      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

At  morn,  at  noon,  in  pallid  night, 
We  heard  thy  song  and  saw  thy  flight, 

While  I,  sighing,  could  but  think 
Of  my  boyhood's  bobolink!" 


CHAPTER  IX 

MT.  MCKINLEY  NATIONAL  PARK 

IN  1916  a  bill  was  presented  in  Congress  to  es- 
tablish in  Alaska  the  Mt.  McKinley  National 
Park.  All  lovers  of  the  country  hoped  that 
the  legislation  necessary  to  create  this  park  would 
not  be  long  in  coming.  The  Alaskan  Range 
(sometimes  called  the  Alaskan  Alps),  of  which 
Mt.  McKinley  is  the  culminating  peak,  has  no 
rival  in  scenic  grandeur.  The  snow  line  is  about 
seven  thousand  feet.  But  Mt.  McKinley  rises 
twenty  thousand  three  hundred  feet,  and  for  the 
upper  thirteen  thousand  the  mountain  is  clad  in 
glaciers  and  perpetual  snows. 

The  region  of  the  proposed  park  offered  a  last 
chance  for  the  United  States  Government  to  pre- 
serve untouched  by  civilization  a  great  primeval 
section  in  its  natural  beauty.  Many  parts  of 
Alaska  are  famous  for  big  game.  But  for  moun- 
tain sheep,  caribou  and  moose  ranging  over  wide 
areas  this  section  is  unsurpassed.  I  have  often 
seen  three  hundred  sheep  in  a  ten  mile  journey! 

And  more  caribou  than  I  ever  dreamed  of  exist- 

01 


92      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

ing!  At  one  time  a  party  of  us  estimated  with 
the  naked  eye  more  than  a  thousand  within  half  a 
mile  of  us  and  many  more  straggling  off  in  the 
distance. 

I  have  made  no  mention  of  the  mosquitos 
which  abound  in  Alaska,  but  so  many  writers 
have  that  perhaps  it  is  not  necessary  to  elaborate 
upon  the  subject.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  here 
one  gives  them  respectful  attention!  Many  a 
wanderer  has  met  his  death  in  the  early  days  be- 
cause he  was  unprepared  to  fight  them  off  as  he 
plunged  through  the  swamps  and  the  wilderness. 
This  "respectful  attention"  is  shared  by  the  ani- 
mals, especially  the  caribou,  which  migrate  from 
place  to  place,  avoiding  the  plains  where  the 
mosquitos  abound.  Sometimes  they  remain  high 
up  in  the  rugged  mountain  ridges.  Sometimes 
they  even  climb  the  glaciers.  One  often  sees  them 
in  huge  droves.  They  do  not  stay  long  in  any  one 
locality  except  in  the  Taklat  basin  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  Muldrow  Glacier.  Here  they  remain 
during  the  summer  and  rear  their  young. 

On  February  twenty-sixth,  1917,  the  bill  be- 
came a  law  and  the  Mt.  McKinley  National  Park 
was  created.  The  long  dimension  of  the  park 
follows  the  general  course  of  the  Alaskan  Range 
from  Mt.  Russell  to  Muldrow  Glacier,  the  Park 
including  all  the  main  range  from  its  northwest 


MT.  McKINLEY  NATIONAL  PARK    93 

face  to  and  beyond  the  summit.  East  of  the  gla- 
cier the  range  widens  to  the  north  and  consists 
of  a  number  of  parallel  mountain  ridges  sepa- 
rated by  broad,  open  basins. 

Moose  are  plentiful  in  certain  parts  of  the  new 
park  but  are  not  so  commonly  seen  as  sheep  and 
caribou.  They  cling  to  the  timbered  areas  for 
two  reasons.  First,  because  they  feed  upon  the 
willow  and  birch  twigs  and  leaves  and  the  roots 
of  water  plants.  Second,  by  nature  the  moose 
is  a  cautious,  wary  animal.  He  is  less  likely  to 
permit  familiarity  than  the  caribou  and  remains 
where  he  is  inconspicuous.  The  best  hunting 
grounds  for  moose  are  not  within  the  park  but  in 
the  lowlands  just  north  of  the  Alaskan  Range. 

Bears, — black,  brown  and  grizzly — are  here, 
as  they  are  in  many  other  parts  of  Alaska  also. 
Foxes  are  plentiful.  Lynx  abound,  as  do  the 
mink,  marten  and  ermine,  to  a  limited  extent. 
The  marshy  lowlands,  in  addition  to  being  the 
abode  of  the  moose,  are  likewise  the  paradise  of 
the  beaver.  Many  a  night  have  I  lain  in  my  tent 
and  heard  the  whack-whack  of  their  tails  on  the 
surface  of  the  water  and  the  splash  when  they 
went  in  to  swim. 

There  is  no  point  on  which  Alaska  is  more  in 
need  of  wise  and  careful  legislation  than  in  re- 
gard to  the  game.  Game  will  not  last  long  un- 


94      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

less  protected.  Already  the  market  hunter  is  in 
the  field.  True,  there  are  game  laws  in  Alaska, 
but  I  have  been  reminded  more  than  once  of  the 
mother  who  said  of  her  naughty  little  daughter, 
"She  has  manners — but  they're  bad!" 

The  game  laws  are  not  strictly  enforced  and 
many  a  sled  load  of  wild  meat  finds  its  way  into 
the  towns  in  winter.  Fairbanks  is  the  destina- 
tion of  most  of  it.  It  is  a  matter  of  personal 
knowledge  that  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two 
thousand  sheep  have  been  taken  into  this  town 
each  winter  for  the  last  three  years.  And  if  this 
is  being  done  now,  what  will  be  the  result  when 
the  new  government  railroad  is  completed  to 
within  fifteen  miles  of  the  park  ?  There  is  but  one 
answer.  The  game  will  disappear  rapidly.  Fore- 
bodings on  this  point  have  been  quieted  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  however,  so  far  as  the  game  in  the 
park  itself  is  concerned.  The  law,  while  it 
grants  miners  and  prospectors  permission  to  kill 
what  they  need  for  food,  stipulates  expressly  that 
"in  no  case  shall  animals  or  birds  be  killed  in 
said  park  for  sale,  or  removal,  or  wantonly." 

It  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  reach 
Mt.  McKinley  Park.  One  may  leave  Seattle 
and  within  a  week  be  in  Anchorage,  or  Seward. 
From  here  it  is  but  a  day's  ride  to  the  Park  Sta- 
tion. A  couple  of  days  in  the  saddle  and  one 


.  McKINLEY  NATIONAL  PARK    95 

will  find  himself  in  the  midst  of  the  herds.  Fur- 
thermore, this  time  will  be  shortened.  It  is  in- 
evitable that  a  road  will  be  built.  Then,  half  a 
day  in  a  motor  and  the  horseback  journey  will 
be  eliminated. 

Regarded  as  a  purely  business  proposition,  the 
creation  of  this  Park  was  quite  worth  while. 
Other  and  much  less  attractive  lands  advertise 
their  natural  beauties  so  alluringly  that  tourists 
flock  to  them,  spending  millions  of  dollars  for 
diversion  far  less  pleasurable  than  that  which  may 
be  had  right  here  in  our  own  country.  A  good 
road,  a  good  hotel  or  two,  and  this  National  Park 
in  Alaska  will  call  to  her  a  much  larger  percent- 
age of  tourists  than  our  government  now  imag- 
ines. 

Almost  every  animal  in  Alaska  has  its  own 
particular  locality.  The  small  black  bear  is  the 
exception.  It  may  be  found  everywhere.  In 
southeastern  Alaska  the  shy,  black-tail  deer  is 
to  be  seen.  It  is  a  pretty,  graceful  creature,  with 
a  glossy  coat,  an  impudent  little  black  tail  and 
slender,  curving  horns.  If  it  were  tame  one  could 
easily  carry  it  in  his  arms.  It  seldom  weighs 
more  than  a  hundred  pounds.  Hunters  have 
made  it  afraid,  however,  and  unless  forced  out 
by  starvation,  it  seldoms  ventures  near  a  human 
-habitation. 


96      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

At  Mt.  St.  Elias  the  foxes  abound, — blue  and 
silver  and  sometimes  a  black  one,  rarest  and  most 
valuable  of  all.  Four  hundred  dollars  is  not  an 
unusual  price  for  a  black  fox  skin.  Sea  otters 
are  getting  scarce.  The  skins  of  these  are  valued 
at  seven  hundred  dollars. 

To  find  the  really  "Big  Game," — the  largest 
the  country  affords,  the  moose,  the  huge  and 
dangerous  Kodiak  bear,  the  caribou  and  the 
mountain  sheep,  one  should  go  to  the  rugged, 
mountainous  peninsula  between  Prince  William 
Sound  and  Cook  Inlet.  The  moose  shed  their 
antlers  periodically  and  I  quite  agree  with  a  fel- 
low hunter  who  one  day  remarked  that  he  knew 
of  nothing  quite  so  pathetic-looking,  so  subdued 
and  sympathy-seeking,  so  meek  and  lowly  of 
spirit  as  a  bull  moose  without  its  horns !  Neither 
do  I. 

The  Kodiak  bear  is  dark  brown  of  color.  And 
an  exceedingly  ugly  and  vicious  brute  as  to  tem- 
per! He  is  a  born  fighter.  If  he  suspects  that 
it  is  your  purpose  to  interfere  with  him  he  will 
attack  you  ferociously.  If,  however,  he  does  not 
happen  to  be  hungry  and  you  fail  to  bother  him 
his  lack  of  interest  in  you  is  often  humiliating! 
He  is,  seemingly,  impervious  to  the  cold  and 
sleeps  in  his  cave  all  winter. 

The  Alaskan  miners  are  great  on  story-tell- 


MT.  McKINLEY  NATIONAL  PARK    97 

ing  and  one  of  them  one  day  related  in  my  pres- 
ence an  amusing  episode  which  he  claimed  was 
a  personal  experience.  He  said  that  he  found 
himself  suddenly  in  the  immediate  presence  of  a 
Kodiak  bear.  It  was  a  position  wholly  unsought 
on  his  part  and,  as  he  remarked,  unduly  familiar! 
But  he  added  that  it  was  a  moment  when  familiar- 
ity bred,  not  contempt,  but  fear.  He  had  always 
heard  that  a  sudden  and  unusual  noise  would 
frighten  a  bear  away  provided  he  hadn't  seen  you 
first !  So  he  began  hammering  his  gold  pan  with 
his  pick,  making  all  the  din  possible  with  the 
means  at  his  command.  It  failed  to  work.  He 
spent  the  night  in  a  tall  tree,  meekly  descending 
from  the  same  when  the  bear,  tired  of  waiting, 
went  next  morning  to  seek  a  breakfast  elsewhere. 
Nor  was  that  all.  His  gold  pan  was  full  of  holes 
from  being  hammered  with  his  pick! 

A  cunning  and  most  amusing  pet  is  a  black 
bear  cub,  and  as  pets  these  are  quite  common 
in  St.  Michael  and  other  parts  of  Alaska.  They 
dance  and  gambol  on  hind  feet,  wrestle  like  hu- 
man beings,  and  not  infrequently  drink  from  a 
bottle  as  do  babies — and  men ! 

The  caribou  is  unquestionably  the  prettiest  ani- 
mal in  Alaska.  Its  body  is  sleek  and  graceful 
as  that  of  the  antelope.  Its  back  is  brown,  its 
flanks  and  legs  pure  white.  It  has  enormous, 


98      THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

out-spreading,  re-curving  and  sharp-pronged 
antlers,  a  distinguishing  feature  of  which  is  that 
the  first  branch  of  one  of  them  curves  directly 
in  front  of  the  forehead  and  then  spreads  straight 
out  to  the  front  into  a  broad  edge-wise  fan  which 
is  called  a  "plow."  The  caribou  roam  (in  herds) 
and  feed  almost  entirely  on  grass.  It  is  most 
interesting  to  watch  them  feed  in  winter.  With 
the  "plow"  they  break  through  the  crust  of  the 
snow.  Then  they  use  the  horn  as  a  rake,  scrap- 
ing away  the  snow  so  that  they  may  get  at  the 
grass  underneath. 

The  seal,  the  wralrus,  the  reindeer  and  the  po- 
lar bear, — all  are  here.  They  are  the  oldest  resi- 
dents of  the  north  country.  But  there  is  one 
thing  which  does  not  abide  with  us.  This  is  the 
serpent.  Evidently  Ireland  is  not  the  only  coun- 
try from  which  the  good  St.  Patrick  banished 
the  snakes.  The  Eskimos  and  Indians  of  Alaska 
probably  never  saw  one.  In  fact,  it  is  claimed 
that  no  poisonous  thing  exists  here.  But  to  this 
I  make  one  exception.  The  mosquito  is  still  with 
us  in  certain  sections  of  the  country.  There  are 
none  in  St.  Michael,  however.  And  no  snakes! 
As  a  corroboration  of  this  statement  I  submit 
the  information  that  the  serpent  has  no  place  in 
either  the  heraldry  or  the  basketry  of  the  natives 
of  Alaska.  The  absence  of  the  snake  in  the 


MT.  McKINLEY  NATIONAL  PARK    99 

Northland,  however,  may  be  due,  not  to  the  in- 
fluence of  St.  Patrick,  but  to  the  frigidity  of  the 
climate.  Anyway,  we  rejoice  that  it  is  so.  The 
most  timid  of  women  may  wade  barefooted  in 
the  marshes  without  a  shiver!  Besides,  Alaskans 
are  proverbially  kind-hearted  and  what  one  of 
us  would  willingly  put  himself  in  the  position  of 
"Old  Man  Snyder"  of  whom  the  mid-western 
poet  who  wrote  under  the  name  of  Ironquill  once 
said: 

"Old  man  Snyder  found  a  snake 
Frozen  stiffer  than  a  stake 
And  he  tucked  it  in  his  vest. 
When  the  saurian  became  thawed 
Mr.  Snyder  became  chawed ! 
And  in  one  unbroken  stream 
He  proceeded  to  blaspheme 
And  eradicate  the  plug 
From  a  little  old  brown  jug! 

Year  by  year,  both  day  and  night, 

Snyder  tried  to  cure  that  bite, 

But  he  didn't  have  the  heft! 

So  one  day  he  while  tug- 

Ging  at  the  plug 

Caught  the  jim-jams  and  got  left! 

Moral. 

Frozen  saurians  are  safer! 
And  it's  bitterer  than  borax 
To  be  gnawed  about  the  thorax 
One's  humanity  to  pay  for!" 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES 

NO  story  of  Alaska  would  be  complete  unless 
it  included  reference  to  that  most  vital  ele- 
ment of  all  the  Northland,  the  Alaskan  dog.  I 
once  heard  a  story  of  an  old  Southern  planter 
who  said: 

"Whenevah  Ah  meet  up  with  a  man  who  says 
he  don'  like  a  niggah,  Ah  always  set  it  down  that 
he  nevah  owned  one !" 

I  can  truthfully  say  the  same  about  a  dog.  Ever 
since  the  days  when  Ulysses  roamed  the  seas  man 
has  loved  his  dog.  Dearest  (and  most  valuable) 
to  the  heart  of  an  Alaskan  is  his  "Malamut"  or 
"Husky,"  as  the  Alaskan  dog  is  usually  desig- 
nated. So  intelligent  that  he  is  almost  human, 
strong  as  a  young  ox,  oblivious  (apparently)  to 
the  cold, — he  is  a  part  of  the  land  itself!  His 
importance  to  the  life  of  the  North  can  not  be 
over-estimated.  He  carries  the  mail  into  far  re- 
gions which  but  for  him  would  be  closed  to  the 
outside  world  for  many  months  of  the  year. 

"An  I  should  live  a  thousand  years,"  as  Shake- 
100 


ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES    101 

speare  puts  it,  I  could  never  forget  a  leader  I 
once  had.  I  called  him  "Paddie."  During  one 
long,  cold  winter  we  went  to  Andreaf sky,  distant 
a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  St.  Michael,  to 
take  the  mail.  I  can  see  him  yet,  at  the  head  of 
the  thirty-three  dog  team,  pulling  us  swiftly  over 
the  hard,  white  snow.  At  night  when  I  would 
wrap  myself  in  my  sleeping-bag  and  lie  down  to 
sleep,  Paddie  never  failed  to  come  and  lie  beside 
me,  snuggling  as  closely  as  possible  to  keep  me 
warm.  I  could  not  forget,  if  I  tried,  his  faith- 
fulness and  affection,  and  I  do  not  wish  to.  I 
think  of  him  many  times,  often  have  dreamed  of 
him  and  sometimes  have  talked  to  him  in  my 
sleep. 

But  laying  aside  all  sentiment  in  regard  to  his 
dogs,  a  man  would  indeed  be  helpless  in  the  north 
country  without  them.  Into  far  and  almost  in- 
accessible regions  which  no  other  beast  could 
penetrate  and  where  neither  man  nor  vehicle 
could  enter  unaided,  the  dogs  run  nimbly,  pull- 
ing a  sled  behind  them.  Many  and  dramatic 
(and  true!)  are  the  stories  of  the  arrival  of  a  dog 
team  in  the  nick  of  time  with  food  and  supplies 
for  a  distant,  snowed-in  camp  the  members  of 
which  would  have  starved  but  for  their  coming. 

Reference  will  be  made  in  another  chapter  to 
the  wonderful  part  our  dogs  are  now  playing  in 


102    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

the  great  World  War.  Alaskans  have  never 
failed  to  appreciate  what  they  owe  them,  but  it 
is  only  within  comparatively  recent  years  that 
they  have  realized  their  real  value.  Nothing  in 
the  history  of  the  country  has  been  of  more  value 
to  Alaska  than  the  Dog  Derby,  the  "All- Alaska 
Sweepstakes,"  as  the  dog  races  are  called. 

Albert  Fink,  an  attorney  at  Nome,  one  day 
overheard  a  bet  between  two  men  as  to  the  speed 
of  their  respective  dog  teams.  As  he  owned  some 
fine  dogs  himself,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  having 
a  real  Derby,  matching  the  teams  for  the  love  of 
the  sport  itself.  Calling  together  all  the  dog 
lovers  and  dog  owners  of  the  community,  he  put 
the  suggestion  before  them.  The  result  was  the 
organization  of  the  Nome  Kennel  Club,  a  society 
the  purpose  of  which  was  to  foster  the  races.  The 
latter  were  to  be  known  as  the  "All-Alaska 
Sweepstakes,"  and  as  such  the  races  have  been 
known  ever  since.  The  club  was  organized  and 
conducted  just  as  jockey  clubs  are.  Rules  and 
regulations  were  drawn  up,  officers  elected,  and  a 
purse  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  collected  for  the 
first  race. 

Some  one  has  ventured  the  opinion  that  noth- 
ing on  earth  could  ever  have  made  the  city  of 
Nome  except  the  very  thing  that  did  make  it, — 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  sand  on  the  beach! 


ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES    103 

Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  since  that 
discovery  nothing  has  ever  equaled  the  interest 
it  created  until  the  first  dog  race  was  held  in  1908. 

Men  talked  of  nothing  else.  On  the  day  of 
the  race  the  stores,  banks  and  offices  were  de- 
serted and  it  is  a  fact  that  the  District  Court 
was  forced  to  adjourn.  Witnesses,  jurors  and 
attorneys  failed  to  appear.  All  went  to  the  races. 
Thousands  of  dollars  were  wagered  on  the  dogs, 
thousands  more  on  the  men  who  drove  them.  It 
was  a  day  of  great  excitement  and  enthusiasm. 

The  course  was  from  Nome,  on  Bering  Sea, 
across  Seward  Peninsula  to  Candle  and  back, 
— a  distance  of  four  hundred  and  ten  miles.  The 
first  race  was  a  great  event.  One  of  the  condi- 
tions was  that  the  whole  team  must  return  to  the 
starting-point.  The  weather  was  most  severe 
and  some  of  the  dogs  froze  to  death.  It  is  no 
uncommon  sight  in  Alaska  to  see  an  intrepid 
driver,  in  harness  himself,  helping  to  bring  back 
in  the  sled  the  disabled  dogs  which  have  become 
incapacitated  by  accident  or  sickness.  The  man 
who  loses  a  dog  is  out  of  the  race,  no  matter  what 
the  cause  of  the  loss  may  be.  The  rules  provide, 
however,  that  after  being  certified  at  Candle,  the 
turning-point,  the  dog  does  not  necessarily  have 
to  be  driven  back.  But  the  whole  team  must  re- 
turn. 


104    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

The  winning  team  of  the  first  race  were  Mala- 
muts  owned  by  Albert  Fink,  driven  by  John 
Hegness.  They  made  the  distance  in  a  hundred 
and  nineteen  hours,  fifteen  minutes  and  twenty- 
two  seconds.  The  winning  team  was  closely  fol- 
lowed by  one  driven  by  the  now-famous  "Scotty" 
Allen  and  which  made  the  course  in  a  hundred 
and  twenty  hours,  seven  minutes  and  fifty-two 
seconds.  Three  hours  elapsed  before  the  third 
team  came  in. 

The  small  margin  of  time  between  the  first 
and  second  teams  made  the  race,  which  took 
days  to  finish,  of  unusual  interest.  There  was 
great  uncertainty  almost  up  to  the  last  moment. 
But  the  race  was  regarded  as  a  success  and  the 
event  became  a  fixture.  Heretofore,  while  there 
had  been  much  discussion  as  to  the  breeding  of 
racing  dogs,  it  had  been  largely  theoretical.  Now 
men  who  owned  dogs  began  to  put  their  minds 
on  it  seriously. 

The  purse  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  collected 
for  the  first  race  was  awarded  in  three  prizes. 
Ten  thousand  went  to  the  winner,  three  thou- 
sand to  the  second  and  two  thousand  to  the  third 
team.  It  was  supposed  when  the  amount  was 
collected  that  it  would  be  amply  sufficient  to 
tempt  dog  owners  to  become  fanciers  and  to  in- 
duce the  importation  and  breeding  of  faster  and 


ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES    105 

better  dogs.  But  the  sum  was  found  to  be  in- 
adequate. The  total  purse  fell  far  short  of  the 
amount  necessary  to  assemble,  feed,  train  and 
condition  a  team. 

The  following  year  there  were  numerous  en- 
tries for  the  second  race.  And  they  were  not  con- 
fined to  wealthy  dog  owners,  by  any  means. 
Miners,  fur  traders,  mail  carriers,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  first  delegate  to  Congress,  entered  the  con- 
test. This  time  "Scotty"  Allen  came  in  for  his 
own.  He  drove  his  team  himself  and  lowered  the 
time  to  eighty-two  hours,  two  minutes  and  forty- 
two  seconds, — thirty-seven  hours  less  than  the 
time  the  first  race  had  consumed. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  personage  in  con- 
nection with  the  early  dog  racing  in  Alaska  is 
Fox  Ramsey.  He  is  an  Englishman,  the  brother 
of  Lord  Dalhousie.  He  was  what  is  commonly 
known  as  a  Cheechaco, — in  other  words,  a  tender- 
foot. He  was  unused  to  the  ways  of  the  trail, 
and  what  he  did  not  know  about  handling  dogs 
would  fill  a  book.  But  he  was  a  good  sport.  So 
he  entered  his  team  of  Malamuts  in  the  second 
race  and  drove  them  himself.  He  took  any 
amount  of  chaff  from  the  local  drivers  and  the 
amusement  of  the  latter  was  certainly  justified. 
Several  weeks  after  the  race  was  over  Ramsey 
drove  up  to  the  finishing  post  and  with  the  ut- 


106    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

most  good  humor  notified  the  judges  that  his 
team  had  arrived! 

The  old  saying,  however,  that  "he  who  laughs 
last  laughs  best"  is  peculiarly  applicable  to  Fox 
Ramsey.  He  chartered  a  schooner  bound  for 
Siberia.  When  he  returned,  as  some  one  has  al- 
ready recorded,  "Siberian  huskies  howled  from 
every  port  hole."  The  crowd  which  had  found 
so  much  merriment  in  his  racing  team  of  the  pre- 
vious year  laughed  louder  than  ever.  They  took 
not  the  slightest  interest  in  the  training  of  his 
dogs.  Ramsey  kept  his  own  counsel.  When  the 
time  came  he  entered  the  race.  Then  came  Ram- 
sey's turn  to  laugh.  He  took  both  first  and  sec- 
ond money !  Not  only  that,  he  broke  the  record. 
The  new  one  was  astonishing.  He  covered  the 
course  in  seventy-four  hours,  fourteen  minutes 
and  twenty-two  seconds. 

The  good  Alaskans,  as  always,  showed  the 
right  spirit.  Their  amusement  changed  to  ad- 
miration. All  existing  theories  as  to  the  best 
breeds  for  racing  had  been  completely  upset. 
Ramsey  is  now  at  the  front  "somewhere  in 
France"  fighting  for  his  country — and  ours! 
Here's  to  him! 

It  is  the  hope,  of  course,  of  every  fancier  to 
perfect  a  breed  which  will  lower  the  record  still 
more,  and  many  hope  to  prove  that  the  descend- 


ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES    107 

ants  of  the  wolf  are  best  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
the  country.  There  is  a  new  breed  which  is  now 
being  watched  with  interest, — the  stag-  and  fox- 
hound. It  has  proved  excellent  for  speed  in  short 
races  but  has  not  yet  been  able  to  hold  out  over 
the  long  course  of  the  Sweepstakes.  Another 
experiment  is  with  the  Russian  wolf-hound, — 
beautiful  dogs  these  are,  but  with  courage  as  yet 
untested. 

There  is  great  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
relative  merits  of  the  various  breeds,  and  since 
the  third  race  the  Derby  has  settled  down  to  a 
contest  between  those  who  believe  in  the  superi- 
ority of  the  fox-hound,  bird  dog  and  Malamut 
cross  as  pitted  against  the  pure-blooded  Sibe- 
rians. 

Those  who  have  never  trained  or  watched  over 
the  training  and  conditioning  of  a  team  of  rac- 
ing dogs  would  find  it  a  most  interesting  experi- 
ence. The  food  of  the  dogs,  like  that  of  a  child, 
is  carefully  watched  over.  It  consists  at  first 
of  dog-salmon,  corn  and  cornmeal  mush,  rice  and 
bacon.  Later  this  is  changed  to  a  more  strength- 
ening diet.  They  are  fed  chopped  beef,  mutton 
and  eggs.  Also,  one  who  has  never  visited 
Alaska  would  open  his  eyes  wide  if  he  could  see 
the  kennels  where  the  dogs  are  kept.  In  fact, 
one  sometimes  wonders  whether  the  human  in- 


habitants  are  as  comfortable.  To  get  a  team  in 
condition  requires  the  combined  efforts  of  a  large 
retinue  of  trainers,  drivers  and  helpers.  The 
driver  who  is  to  pilot  the  first  team  of  a  kennel 
devotes  his  time  and  attention  to  the  choice  few 
of  some  twenty  or  thirty  dogs.  The  helpers  and 
second  string  drivers  keep  the  remainder  in  fit 
condition  so  as  to  develop  and  gait  those  which 
must  be  ready  to  substitute  in  case  any  one  of 
the  first  lot  proves  unequal  to  the  qualifications 
for  entry, — speed,  soundness,  courage. 

It  has  often  happened  that  dogs  the  fame  of 
which  has  spread  not  only  over  Alaska  but  over 
all  the  world  have  developed  from  the  second 
string.  One  such  was  Baldy  of  Nome,  the  hero 
of  a  book  written  by  his  owner,  Mrs.  C.  E.  Dar- 
ling, commonly  known  as  "The  Darling  of  the 
Dogs."  Baldy  is  old  now, — a  pensioner.  He 
lives  in  ease  and  luxury  at  the  California  estate 
of  his  mistress.  His  story  is  interesting.  He 
was  rejected  at  first  as  being  not  of  sufficient 
caliber  for  the  first  team.  Whether  the  rejec- 
tion spurred  him  to  renewed  effort  I  do  not 
know.  But  he  proceeded  to  prove  his  worth.  He 
won  his  way  from  wheel  of  the  second  team  to 
leader  of  the  first  team.  Baldy  occupies  a 
warm  spot  in  every  Alaskan  heart.  He  worked 
up  from  the  ranks, — a  "self-made"  dog,  so  to 


ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES    109 

speak,  and  proved  his  courage,  his  sagacity,  his 
strength,  and  his  endurance.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  things  about  him  is  that  he  now  pos- 
sesses the  largest  service  flag  of  any  one  of  my 
acquaintance.  Twenty-eight  of  his  sons  and 
grandsons  went  to  the  Vosges  to  "do  their  bit," 
and  Baldy  now  wears  the  Croix  de  Guerre  be- 
stowed upon  them  by  the  French  government! 
Of  the  now-famous  dogs  of  the  Derby  mention 
must  be  made  of  Dubby.  He  was  the  first  "loose" 
leader  ever  developed  in  Alaska  and  the  best. 
He  was  almost  human  in  intelligence.  He  ran 
free  from  the  tow  line.  He  would  take  his  place 
proudly  at  the  head  of  his  team,  with  no  restraint 
of  tow  or  leash,  observing  the  spoken  commands 
with  instant  obedience.  From  his  position  of  au- 
thority at  the  head  of  the  team,  by  incessant  yelp- 
ing and  playful  antics,  he  would  encourage  the 
others,  and  woe  to  any  one  of  them  that  proved 
the  laggard!  Dubby  promptly  punished  him. 
He  would  run  back,  bark  and  then  nip  him  until 
the  offender  was  only  too  glad  to  return  to  duty 
and  resume  gait.  Other  dogs  which  have  won 
fame  in  the  Derby  are  (1)  Jack  McMillan,  a 
leader  belonging  to  Albert  Fink;  (2)  Rex,  a 
pacer;  (3)  The  Blatchford  Blues,  two  thorough- 
bred Llewellyn  setters,  wonderful  both  as  to 
speed  and  intelligence;  (4)  Kalma,  a  beautiful, 


110    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

white-eyed,  black-coated  Siberian  who  has  proved 
the  most  lasting  campaigner  of  them  all. 

Not  to  the  dogs  alone,  however,  much  as  we 
love  them,  is  due  the  credit  for  the  success  of  the 
Alaskan  Derby.  Too  much  can  not  be  said  for 
the  trainers  and  drivers.  All  of  them  were  men 
deeply  versed  in  dog  lore.  They  had  made  a 
study  of  many  years'  duration  and  were  imbued 
with  theories  as  to  the  training  and  conditioning 
of  dogs, — theories  as  varied  as  were  the  breeds 
of  the  dogs  themselves.  These  men  were  knights 
of  the  trail,  inured  to  hardship,  fleet  and  sure 
of  foot,  gifted  both  with  physical  endurance  and 
courage  to  which  no  words  can  do  justice.  Men- 
tion has  already  been  made  of  "Scotty"  Allen. 
He  is  known  to  every  man,  woman  and  child  on 
Seward  Peninsula.  He  has  been  in  every  race 
except  the  last  one,  either  with  a  team  of  his  own 
or  one  owned  jointly  by  himself  and  Mrs.  Dar- 
ling. He  developed  and  owns  the  two  famous 
leaders,  Dubby  and  Buddy,  and  their  reputation 
is  world-wide. 

To  "Scotty"  Allen  the  French  Government 
entrusted  the  responsibility  of  choosing  and 
transporting  to  France  more  than  a  hundred  of 
the  Sweepstake  dogs.  Further  reference  will  be 
made  to  their  noble  work  on  the  war-swept  fields 
of  Europe  where,  with  3.  courage  and  daring 


ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES    111 

equaled  only  by  their  human  brothers,  they  carry 
ammunition  and  supplies  far  into  the  mountains, 
— often  to  remote  and  seemingly  inaccessible 
spots  where  the  soldiery  could  not  penetrate 
without  them.  It  was  because  of  this  mission 
that  Allen  was  unable  to  enter  the  last  race  and 
as  he  has  recently  been  elected  to  the  Alaskan 
Legislature  he  will  also  be  deprived  of  the  privi- 
lege of  entering  this  year.  The  session  is  held 
at  the  same  time  as  the  Derby.  In  any  other 
country  the  latter  might  be  postponed.  Here 
it  is  not  possible.  It  is  a  matter  of  much  regret 
that  the  Derby  can  not  be  made  a  territorial 
affair.  This  was  the  original  intention,  as  the 
name,  All- Alaska  Sweepstakes,  indicates.  But 
it  proved  impossible.  The  race  could  not  be  held 
after  the  spring  break-up.  It  must  have  the 
hard  spring  trail  and  the  cold  weather,  and  the 
trainers  must  have  the  whole  of  the  winter  for 
the  training  and  conditioning  of  the  dogs.  There- 
fore, April  must  be  the  month  and,  regrettable  as 
the  fact  is,  this  prevents  teams  from  Fairbanks, 
Iditarod  and  other  Alaskan  towns  from  enter- 
ing. The  men  from  these  sections  could  not  well 
take  chances  on  the  disappearance  of  the  trail 
by  an  early  thaw  before  they  could  return  home 
again  for  the  spring  clean-ups.  But  almost  every 
Alaskan  town  now  has  its  own  Kennel  Club, 


112    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

small  or  large  as  the  case  may  be,  and  all  are  ac- 
tively alive  to  the  sport.  Moreover,  the  "Out- 
side" is  by  no  means  indifferent.  Many  contri- 
butions to  the  purse  come  each  year  to  the  Nome 
Kennel  Club. 

Trophies  for  the  different  races,  usually  cups, 
are,  almost  without  exception,  the  gifts  of  men 
in  the  United  States  who  are  devotees  of  the 
sport.  Unable  to  participate  themselves,  they 
like  to  aid  and  encourage  the  event.  The  latest 
trophy,  and  the  one  which  unquestionably  will 
be  most  sought  after  this  year,  is  the  cup  present- 
ed by  John  Borden,  Chicago  sportsman  and  mil- 
lionaire, who  joined  the  Club  last  summer  while 
in  Nome.  This  cup  is  for  a  new  contest, — ex- 
treme speed  being  the  object.  The  course  is  to 
cover  twenty-six  miles,  three  hundred  yards.  It 
must  be  run  under  perfect  conditions,  it  being 
the  object  and  the  desire  of  both  donor  and  Club 
to  learn  how  fast  a  dog  team  can  actually  travel 
without  obstacles.  The  winner  each  year  will  be 
given  a  small  cup,  and  the  big  trophy  must  be 
won  three  times  in  succession  before  it  becomes 
the  property  of  the  winner. 

In  addition  to  Allen  and  Ramsey,  other  drivers 
have  made  substantial  but  less  spectacular  win- 
nings. Two  of  these  are  the  Johnson  brothers 
and  another  is  Leonard  Sepalla.  Their  dogs  were 


ALL-ALASKA  SWEEPSTAKES    113 

Siberians,  driven  in  a  long  string,  fifteen  to  twen- 
ty-six to  a  team.  These  men  have  marvelous 
records  for  endurance,  as  has  also  Peter  Berg, 
a  mail  carrier.  The  latter  did  a  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  without  a  stop  for  food  or  rest.  The 
last  thirty  miles  was  made  in  harness,  and  in  snow 
shoes,  with  what  was  left  of  his  badly  used-up 
team.  Then,  after  hauling  a  large  part  of  his 
frost-bitten  and  exhausted  dogs  to  the  finishing 
post  he  found  that  he  had  been  beaten  to  second 
money  by  a  man  who  had  ridden  four  hundred 
miles  behind  his  untiring  and  seemingly  inex- 
haustible Siberians. 

If  the  Alaskan  Derby  had  had  but  one  result, 
— that  of  developing  a  superior  race  of  dogs — 
it  would  have  been  invaluable  to  Alaska.  But 
it  has  done  one  other  thing  in  which  every  dog 
lover  rejoices.  It  has  not  only  benefited  the  rac- 
ing dog.  It  has  materially  benefited  the  condi- 
tion of  the  working  dog.  The  old  rule  of  feed- 
ing an  exhausted  and  over- worked  team  "buck- 
skin soup"  no  longer  goes  in  Alaska.  Very  few 
drivers  now  have  the  temerity  to  abuse  a  dog. 
It  has  been  proved  beyond  doubt  that  better  re- 
sults come  from  kindness  and  care  than  can  pos- 
sibly be  obtained  by  neglect  or  brutal  treatment. 

So,  after  many  years'  sojourn  in  the  country, 
I  paraphrase  the  saying  of  the  old  Southern 


114    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

planter.  I  affirm  that  he  who  does  not  love  a  dog 
never  owned  one!  Here's  to  them, — dumb  he- 
roes of  the  trackless  wilderness  and  the  gigantic 
snow  fields !  Over  the  frozen  wastes  they  cheer- 
fully pull  both  driver  and  load  for  thousands  of 
miles  and  come  up  smiling  when  the  end  of  the 
long  journey  is  reached.  Into  their  masters' 
deepest  affections  they  unconsciously  walk  and 
"stay  put."  They  become  his  most  sympathetic 
companions,  comrades  and  friends.  And  the 
news  which  from  time  to  time  reaches  us  from 
"over  there"  where  our  canine  heroes  are  doing 
their  "bit"  in  a  manner  little  short  of  miraculous 
goes  straight  to  our  hearts.  Yes.  The  dog  has 
come  into  his  own.  And  all  Alaska  rejoices  that 
it  is  so.  Over  a  kingdom  of  devoted  subjects  he 
reigns  supreme! 


CHAPTER  XI 

BURIED  WEALTH 

IT  is  not  the  purpose  of  such  a  book  as  this  to 
go  into  detail  in  regard  to  the  gold  and  the 
other  minerals  which  lie  hidden  in  the  heart  of 
Alaska.  There  are  many  volumes  dealing  with 
the  gold  fields  and  with  mines  and  mining  which 
contain  such  definite  information  along  those 
lines  as  the  student  may  seek.  But  to  those  who 
knew  Alaska  both  before  and  after  the  great 
stampede  of  1898  the  change  of  scene  in  the  lo- 
cality offers  food  for  thought.  In  the  great  In- 
terior, where  once  man  alone,  with  only  his  pick 
and  shovel,  coaxed  from  Mother  Earth  in  small 
quantities  the  precious  yellow  metal,  huge  mon- 
sters with  an  endless  chain  of  buckets  now  swoop 
down,  dig  up  sand  and  gravel  by  the  ton  and 
search  every  ounce  of  it  for  gold.  One  may  now 
take  a  motor  car  and  ride  out  to  the  spots  where 
in  the  early  days  bewildering  fortunes  were  made 
in  a  short  space  of  time, — fortunes  which  in  many 
cases  were  spent  as  fast  as  they  were  made.  A 
well-known  missionary  of  the  Episcopal  Church 

115 


116    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

relates  that  one  day  during  his  travels  he  met  a 
man  freighting  with  dogs  along  the  Koyakuk 
River.  He  learned  while  stopping  at  the  camp 
that  night  that  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  gold  rush 
this  man  had  offered  a  dance-hall  girl  her  weight 
in  gold  dust  if  she  would  marry  him.  She  re- 
fused. But  she  told  him  she  would  get  his  dust 
anyway.  And  she  did! 

Twenty  years  have  gone  by  since  the  madness 
at  Dawson,  Nome,  and  the  other  gold  centers 
was  at  its  height.  The  true  story  of  the  stam- 
pede to  Klondike  has  never  been  written.  Per- 
haps it  never  will  be.  It  was  unique, — not  so 
much  in  the  number  who  flocked  to  the  gold 
fields.  Of  those  who  went  between  1897  and 
1900  thirty  thousand  is  an  elastic  estimate.  Far 
greater  was  the  multitude  which  flooded  Califor- 
nia during  the  wild  rush  of  '49.  Eighty  thou- 
sand in  one  year!  Five  thousand  ships,  deserted 
by  both  owners  and  crews,  tossed  idly  in  San 
Francisco  Bay.  Three  years  later  there  was  a 
much  larger  migration  to  Australia.  A  hundred 
thousand  gold  seekers  entered  the  port  of  Mel- 
bourne in  1852!  But  the  Klondike  stampede  is 
without  a  parallel  in  history  because  of  the  con- 
ditions to  be  confronted.  Never  before  had  a 
gold  region  been  so  inaccessible,  so  remote. 
Never  before  had  such  masses  of  men  flung  them- 


BURIED  WEALTH  117 

selves  against  an  Arctic  wilderness,  determined 
to  do  or  die!  The  result  was  only  what  was  to 
be  expected.  The  physically  unfit  perished. 
Only  the  hardy  survived.  Hundreds  of  men, 
fresh  from  offices  and  shops,  came,  bringing  their 
city-bred  habits  and  customs.  They  found  them 
of  no  value  in  this  land  where  Nature,  in  her 
fiercest  and  most  savage  mood,  awaited  them. 
They  died, — died  in  almost  every  conceivable 
manner.  They  perished  of  exhaustion,  of  star- 
vation, of  disease.  They  were  the  victims  of  their 
own  ignorance  and  lack  of  experience.  They 
were  drowned.  They  were  smothered  in  snow- 
slides.  Only  the  fittest  held  out.  These,  making 
long  journeys  up  and  down  the  frozen  rivers, 
through  dense  forests  and  over  rough  mountains, 
ofttimes  pulling  their  own  sleds, — these  have  left 
no  record  of  those  tragic  days  for  the  world  to 
read! 

The  Matanuska  coal  fields  are  the  richest  in 
the  world,  not  excepting  the  rich  mines  of  Vir- 
ginia, Pennsylvania  and  Kentucky.  They  lie  in 
ninety  square  miles  of  territory.  The  vein  is 
fourteen  feet  and  bears  the  highest  grade  of  cok- 
ing coal, — the  only  coal  except  that  to  be  found 
in  Virginia  which  is  fit  for  the  use  of  the  Navy. 
It  is  estimated  that  this  coal  can  be  mined  and 
shipped  to  San  Francisco  at  a  cost  of  four  dol- 


118    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

lars  a  ton,  that  if  it  should  be  sold  at  retail  at 
six  dollars  a  ton,  the  price  would  be  nine  dollars 
cheaper  than  the  present  price  of  coal  in  Los 
Angeles!  In  my  judgment  this  solves  the  coal 
question,  both  as  to  its  use  for  domestic  purposes 
and  in  time  of  war  as  well.  The  new  government 
railroad  leads  directly  into  the  Matariuska  coal 
fields. 

As  far  as  the  mineral  deposits, — the  gold,  cop- 
per, tin,  etc., — are  concerned  one  may  truthfully 
say  that  they  have  not  yet  been  touched,  although 
the  yearly  output  is  more  than  thirty-two  million 
dollars.  The  richest  mines  are  not  the  gold 
mines.  They  are  the  copper  mines.  Last  year 
(1917)  the  Kennicott  copper  mines  produced  the 
largest  per  cent  of  the  thirty-two  million.  And 
the  copper  production  doubles  in  value  the  entire 
production  of  gold.  Since  the  purchase  of  Alaska 
the  country  has  produced  in  excess  of  five  hun- 
dred million  dollars, — a  country  which  was 
bought  for  seven  million  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  I  Alaska  was  Uncle  Sam's  best  bar- 
gain. 

Harry  Olsen,  a  member  of  Stefanson's  latest 
expedition,  asserts  that  fabulous  deposits  of  na- 
tive copper  were  seen  by  them  on  Bank's  Island, 
about  six  hundred  miles  north  of  Great  Bear 
Lake.  The  Eskimos  use  copper  for  everything 


BURIED  WEALTH  119 

for  which  any  kind  of  metal  is  used  and  because 
it  is  so  plentiful  and  so  easy  to  obtain  they  think 
it  of  no  value. 

In  1913  I  was  going  from  Nome  to  Siberia  on 
the  S.  S.  Victoria.  Among  the  passengers  were 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Anderson  and  several  members  of 
Stefanson's  party.  We  put  them  off  into  their 
own  boats  in  the  Roadstead,  outside  of  Nome. 
The  expedition  was  wrecked  just  after  leaving 
Diomede  Islands  and  the  party  lost  for  a  year. 
Amundsen,  when  he  returned  through  the  North- 
west Passage,  reported  having  seen  a  tribe  of 
blond  Eskimos.  Stefanson  was  on  his  way  to 
verify  that  report.  Later  a  second  expedition 
was  fitted  out  and  the  report  substantiated. 

There  are  many  famous  placer  gold  mines, — 
at  Nome,  at  Dawson,  and  at  the  other  localities 
in  the  Yukon.  Two  of  the  largest  quartz  mines 
in  the  world  are  at  Juneau, — the  Alaska  Juneau 
and  the  Alaska  Gastineau.  Each  plant  handles 
from  eight  to  ten  thousand  tons  of  ore  a  day. 
The  Juneau  mines  had  produced  sixty-two  mil- 
lions of  dollars'  worth  of  ore  when  the  ocean 
broke  through  and  flooded  the  works.  Two-thirds 
of  the  property  was  ruined.  But  the  remaining 
third,  now  enclosed  by  a  huge  concrete  dam,  is 
still  producing.  The  famous  Treadwell  mines 
are  on  Douglas  Island  and  have  recently  had  a 


120    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

similar  experience.    About  a  year  ago  they  also 
were  flooded  and  sustained  a  serious  loss. 

I  have  already  said  that  it  is  not  my  purpose 
to  go  into  detail  in  regard  to  the  mines  and  the 
other  industries  of  the  North.  I  wish  only  to 
reveal  the  opportunities  which  lie  waiting  for 
him  who  is  alert  for  business  chances.  When  the 
new  railroad  is  completed  any  able-bodied  man 
who  has  energy,  initiative  and  ambition  can  get 
into  the  interior  of  this  rich  country  at  little  ex- 
pense. And  if  it  were  generally  known  how  many 
hundred  prospectors  are  laying  their  plans  to  be 
there  during  this  present  year  (1918)  the  lag- 
gard would  bestir  himself!  It  can  not  be  long 
until  all  the  industries  of  Alaska  will  be  opened 
up  upon  a  large  scale.  The  climate,  while  severe 
at  times,  need  not  deter  any  well  man  or  woman 
from  going.  People  here  dress  for  the  weather. 
Real  suffering  from  cold  is  seldom  known.  No- 
body has  "bad  colds"  in  Alaska.  The  cold  is 
dry  and  invigorating.  Nowhere  on  earth  will  one 
find  men  and  women  of  such  perfect  health.  No- 
where will  one  see  sturdier,  healthier,  more  rosy- 
cheeked  children.  Moreover,  novelists  and  play- 
wrights to  the  contrary,  the  living  and  working 
conditions  here  are  governed  by  the  very  same 
principles  and  laws  as  those  of  other  lands.  Any 
man  or  woman  can  get  on  in  Alaska  just  as  long 


SLUICING  THE  WINTER  DUMP  AT  FAIRBANKS 


THE  THIRD  BEACH  AT  NOME  FROM  WHICH  WAS  TAKEN 
MILLIONS   OF  DOLLARS   WORTH   OF  GOLD  IN   DUST  AND   NUGGETS 


ONE  NIGHT'S  CATCH.    NEARLY  FIVE  THOUSAND  SALMON 
WEIGHING  APPROXIMATELY  75,000  POUNDS 


A  FISHWHEEL 


BURIED  WEALTH  121 

as  he  or  she  is  "on  the  square."  Otherwise  either 
of  them,  in  my  judgment,  will,  in  time,  come  to 
grief  anywhere. 

As  was  the  case  with  the  railroads,  the  govern- 
ment was  up  against  the  proposition  of  govern- 
ment ownership  or  private  monopoly  in  regard  to 
the  rich  coal  fields  of  Alaska.  When  their  value 
was  discovered,  capitalists  and  entry  men  with 
speculative  tendencies  swooped  down  upon  the 
coal  treasures  of  the  country,  horse,  foot  and  dra- 
goon. For  a  time  it  seemed  that  the  entire  po- 
tential wealth  of  the  land  was  to  have  the  usual 
fate, — that  of  being  brought  under  monopolistic 
control. 

The  United  States  Government  has  ill  repaid 
Theodore  Roosevelt  for  much  that  he  has  done. 
But  Alaskans  will  not  forget  and  the  United 
States  will  one  day  realize  what  he  did  for  them 
in  this  particular  instance.  When  he  saw  what 
was  about  to  happen,  with  his  characteristic 
method  of  doing  things  first  and  asking  permis- 
sion afterward,  he  withdrew  every  acre  of  coal- 
bearing  land  in  Alaska  from  entry!  This  was 
nearly  fifteen  years  ago.  Alaska  sat  helpless  and 
gnashed  her  teeth  while  legislation  fought  with 
politics  and  speculation  wrestled  with  finance. 

Being  able  to  see  the  absurdity  which  never 
fails  to  appear  in  such  crises  and  to  laugh  at  it 


122    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

has  saved  many  a  man  from  losing  his  chances 
of  going  to  Heaven!  One  day  in  1913  I  chanced 
to  be  at  Dutch  Harbor  where  the  battleship 
Maryland  was  coaling.  Had  the  Maryland  car- 
ried a  gun  such  as  the  German  one  which  fired  on 
Paris  on  Good  Friday  of  the  present  year  she 
might  have  fired  a  volley  which  could  have  landed 
squarely  in  the  Matanuska  coal  fields!  There 
was  nothing  funny  in  the  situation  to  an  Alaskan, 
of  course,  but  I  was  moved  to  unseemly  mirth 
when  I  saw  that  Pocahontas  coal  from  Virginia 
going  into  her  bunkers!  We  in  Alaska  (mis- 
erere!) were  importing  coal  for  our  own  use  from 
Washington,  California  and — Australia! 

Now,  however,  Alaska  has  her  reward.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  re-opened  the  coal 
fields  for  entry.  But  permission  is  given  only  to 
lease  the  coal  tracts.  Before  this  book  appears 
the  first  Alaskan  coal  will  be  helping  to  fill  the 
bunkers,  not  only  of  Alaska  herself  but  of  the 
Pacific  coast  as  well. 

There  is  one  noticable  thing  about  the  condi- 
tions imposed  upon  the  lessees  of  the  coal  fields 
by  Secretary  Lane  and  it  is  a  point  upon  which 
both  the  prospective  lessee  and  employee  should 
be  informed.  These  conditions  provide  for  the 
safeguarding  of  the  lives  and  welfare  of  the  min- 
ers. No  operator  may  mine  coal  at  minimum 


BURIED  WEALTH  123 

cost  without  regard  for  the  safety  of  his  men. 
The  rules  are  explicit.  The  lease  requires  him 
to  "leave  ample  support  for  the  roof  of  the  drifts 
and  stopes,  to  provide  adequate  ventilation,  spe- 
cial exits,  to  guard  against  explosion,  flooding, 
'squeezes'  and  fire."  The  protection  of  the  work- 
man goes  even  further  than  this.  No  firm,  or  in- 
dividual, operating  in  government  land,  may 
work  the  miners  longer  than  eight  hours  a  day. 
They  must  agree  to  pay  them  twice  a  month  in 
cash.  The  forced  buying  at  stores  owned  by  the 
company  is  strictly  prohibited.  The  operators, 
at  the  request  of  a  majority  of  the  miners,  must 
grant  one  of  their  number,  chosen  by  vote,  per- 
mission to  check  and  weigh  the  coal  in  cases  where 
the  miners'  pay  is  based  upon  their  output. 

Wise  provisions  these !  The  stormy  and  bloody 
history  of  the  Colorado  fields  is  to  have  no  repe- 
tition here  if  the  foresight  and  the  good  judg- 
ment of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  can  pre- 
vent it.  All  these  things  lend  to  the  desirability 
of  employment  in  Alaska.  There  are  only  two 
spots  in  the  country  where  the  coal  lands  are  in 
possession  of  individuals  or  of  private  compa- 
nies. Every  other  inch  of  it  belongs  to  the  gov- 
ernment. And  it  will  keep  on  belonging  to  it! 
The  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  Franklin  K. 
Lane,  is  the  largest  operating  landlord  in  the 


124    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

world.  While  you  may  not  buy  coal  land  in 
Alaska  you  may  lease  it — for  not  more  than  fifty 
years.  For  each  ton  mined  you  pay  a  royalty 
to  the  government.  You  may  then  ship  your 
coal  in  a  government  coal-car !  One  can  see  how 
easy  it  will  be  for  a  lessee  to  make  money  in  coal 
in  Alaska.  All  he  has  to  do  is  to  dig!  No  spec- 
ulating in  coal  lands!  No  shifting  and  juggling 
of  stocks  and  bonds  of  coal-carrying  railroads! 
So  far  as  the  coal  fields  and  mining  in  Alaska  are 
concerned  neither  money,  politics  nor  influence 
will  avail  to  change  the  situation  one  jot  or  one 
tittle!  Amen!  Hallelujah!!  Waltz  me  around 
again,  Willie!!! 

With  farm  and  mineral  lands,  however,  it  is 
different.  These  may  pass  into  the  hands  of 
private  companies  or  individuals  just  as  soon  as 
the  latter  can  qualify  to  meet  the  conditions.  We 
who  know  the  country  can  realize  as  outsiders 
can  not  what  the  railroad  will  mean  to  Alaska. 
One  may  take  a  boat  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon, 
traveling  westward  to  southward,  thence  up  the 
Tanana  until  he  reaches  Fairbanks  which  is  with- 
in a  hundred  miles  of  the  Arctic  Circle.  Here 
the  new  railroad  will  have  its  northern  terminus. 
One  may  then  take  the  train  back  to  Seward,  rid- 
ing through  the  great  gold  country — a  section 
the  wealth  of  which  is  uncomputed — then  on 


BURIED  WEALTH  125 

through  the  enormous  coal  fields,  past  farms 
laden  with  crops,  finding  himself,  when  the  end 
of  the  journey  is  reached,  at  Seward,  the  ter- 
minus on  the  Peninsula,  after  a  journey  (not  in- 
cluding the  water  voyage)  of  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles. 

In  proportion  as  commerce  and  industry  grow 
opportunities  for  labor  will  increase.  The  omni- 
present automobile  will  bring  with  it  the  neces- 
sity for  the  garage,  the  repair  shop,  the  chauf- 
feur, the  mechanician.  The  railroad  terminals 
mean  new  towns  and  new  towns  mean  business 
houses.  Wherever  there  is  a  road  in  process  of 
construction  there  is  always  a  chance  for  women. 
The  workmen  must  be  fed  and  provided  with 
sleeping  quarters.  Boarding  houses,  laundries, 

etc.,  are  indispensable.  But .  I  should  not  be 

honest  either  with  myself  or  with  my  readers  if  I 
did  not  here  utter  one  word  of  warning.  No 
woman  need  be  afraid  to  go  to  Alaska,  but  both 
men  and  women  should  go  wisely  and  in  full  un- 
derstanding of  conditions  there.  Both  must  be 
equipped  to  meet  those  conditions.  The  first  is 
the  promise,  oral  or  written,  of  a  job  before  go- 
ing! The  other  is  the  means  to  return  home  at 
any  time.  No  one  should  go  to  Alaska  without 
having  first  provided  for  one  or  both  of  these  con- 
ditions. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  HAUNT  OF  THE  SALMON 

THE  greatest  industry  in  Alaska  is  unques- 
tionably the  salmon  fishing.  More  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  kinds  of  edible  fish  abound  in 
Alaskan  waters  and  this  does  not  include  trout 
and  grayling  in  the  streams  where  only  the  lat- 
ter are  to  be  found.  Most  of  the  halibut  eaten 
in  the  United  States  comes  from  Alaska.  These 
fish  often  weigh  as  high  as  two  hundred  pounds. 
Large  numbers  of  whales  are  caught  and  pre- 
pared for  market  annually.  The  fish  products 
of  the  country  have  already  netted  more  than 
two  hundred  million  dollars. 

Nothing  in  the  history  of  all  Nature  is  more 
wonderful  (or  more  tragic)  than  the  story  of 
the  salmon.  So  wonderful  is  it  that  it  is  almost 
beyond  the  power  of  the  human  brain  to  com- 
prehend it.  Until  the  advent  of  the  motion  pic- 
ture— one  of  the  greatest  educators  of  our  day 
and  generation — few  knew  that  the  salmon  re- 
turns to  the  very  spot  where  it  was  spawned  to 
die.  After  thirty  months  at  sea,  during  which 

126 


THE  HAUNT  OF  THE  SALMON    127 

time  nothing  is  known  of  them,  they  are  drawn 
by  some  mysterious  instinct  back  to  the  very 
spot  of  their  birth.  Sometimes  the  return  ne- 
cessitates a  journey  of  fifteen  hundred  miles  and 
during  that  journey  nothing  is  eaten.  Fisher- 
men, both  white  and  native,  have  told  me  repeat- 
edly that  they  have  never  yet  found  anything  in 
the  stomach  of  a  salmon.  They  leave  the  ocean 
and  enter  the  rivers  early  in  the  spring.  As  soon 
as  they  enter  fresh  water  they  cease  eating.  Their 
stomachs  shrink  as  their  appetites  fail  and  they 
have  therefore  no  desire  to  return  to  the  salt-water 
feeding-grounds.  When  they  reach  their  destina- 
tion they  reproduce,  which  is  the  object  of  the 
long  journey.  Shortly  afterward  they  die.  Life, 
seemingly,  is  complete  for  them  when  they  have 
reached  the  waters  which  gave  them  birth  and 
have  transmitted  life  to  others.  This  done,  they 
drop  down  the  river  with  the  current  and  are  seen 
no  more.  From  three  to  four  hundred  eggs  to 
each  pound  of  the  parent  fish  is  the  average 

spawn.  And  yet .  The  artificial  propagation 

of  the  salmon  goes  on  ceaselessly.  It  is  compared 
to  the  sowing  of  seed  by  the  farmer.  The  culture 
of  the  eggs  in  a  hatchery  and  the  distribution  of 
fingerlings  lay  the  foundation  for  an  increased 
harvest  year  by  year. 

To  me  the  return  of  the  salmon  to  the  spawn- 


128    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

ing  grounds  is  the  most  marvelous  thing  in  the 
world.  From  its  source  in  the  snow-capped 
mountains  of  the  interior  to  the  spot  where  it 
flows,  bell- toned  and  majestic,  into  the  sea,  the 
Yukon  with  its  various  tributaries  is  more  than 
twenty-five  hundred  miles  long!  And  the  water 
is  muddy.  The  fish  wheels,  useless  in  clear  water, 
are  in  constant  motion.  How,  then,  does  the  sal- 
mon determine  the  exact  spot  at  which  to  leave 
the  river  and  enter  the  particular  tributary  from 
which,  originally,  it  came?  Only  once  has  it  been 
in  it  before, — the  time  when  as  a  fingerling  of 
two  or  three  inches  it  made  its  first  swift  journey 
out  to  sea !  What  man,  even  if  he  had  all  man- 
ner of  landmarks  to  guide  him,  would  undertake 
to  return  to  the  spot  he  left  in  childhood  if  in 
order  to  do  so  he  had  to  leave  the  broad  ocean 
and  follow  twenty-five  hundred  miles  of  water 
which  is  first  river,  then  tributary,  then  creek, 
then  brook  and  finally  a  lake?  It  is  not  worth 
while  to  try  to  reduce  the  thing  to  intelligible 
terms.  It  is  incomprehensible.  No  human  in- 
telligence can  explain  the  spawning  migration  of 
the  salmon.  Yet  long-continued  and  careful  in- 
vestigation and  observation  in  every  stream  of 
the  Pacific  coast  have  established  these  facts  be- 
yond question. 

He  who  has  never  seen  a  "run"  of  salmon  has 


THE  HAUNT  OF  THE  SALMON    129 

something  yet  to  live  for!  I  know  of  no  other 
event  which  equals  it.  The  heaviest  runs  are  in 
May,  June,  and  July,  the  catch  being  largest  in 
the  latter  month.  The  largest  fish  are  caught  in 
May.  The  "royal  family"  of  salmon  is  the  King. 
These  are  best  in  June.  Often  they  weigh  from 
fifty  to  eighty  pounds.  The  king  salmon  never 
rises  to  the  fly.  The  canneries  take  them  by  the 
wheel. 

I  shall  never  forget  my  first  view  of  a  fish 
wheel  and  a  cannery.  I  thought  the  wheel  the 
nearest  approach  to  an  infernal  machine  that  I 
had  ever  seen — until  I  got  into  the  cannery !  The 
wheels  are  fashioned  of  wire-gauze  compartments 
and  are  built  in  places  near  high-water  mark 
where  salmon  are  known  to  run  in  greatest  num- 
bers, usually  at  the  head  of  natural  or  artificial 
channels  in  the  river  bed.  "Like  a  cradle  endless 
rocking"  the  wheel  revolves,  scooping  up  the  un- 
suspecting and  beautiful  creatures  literally  by 
thousands.  It  is  the  blackest  and  bloodiest  of 
murder.  Nothing  else!  But .  In  the  "Out- 
side" they  insist  on  eating  salmon  and  the  can- 
neries can  not  supply  the  demand  without  the 
wheel. 

Kipling,  in  his  American  Notes.,  says  that  he 
saw  a  ton  of  salmon  taken  on  the  Columbia  River 
as  one  night's  catch  from  the  revolving  cups  of  a 


130    THE  .LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

giant  wheel.  My  own  first  sight  of  a  fish  wheel 
in  operation  beats  the  story  of  this  renowned 
writer  all  to  pieces.  The  proprietor  announced 
that  the  catch  of  this  night  was  five  tons,  an 
amount  which  taxes  the  credulity  of  any  man  in 
his  right  mind.  With  a  fascination  which  no 
words  can  describe  I  watched  those  fish  being 
unloaded.  Huge  fifty-pounders,  hardly  dead, 
scores  weighing  from  twenty  to  thirty  pounds 
and  myriads  of  smaller  ones!  The  warehouse, 
built  on  piles  in  the  bend  of  the  river,  was  not 
far  away,  and  as  I  was  there  for  the  purpose  of 
seeing  the  process  from  first  to  last,  I  went 
aboard  the  barge  onto  which  the  salmon  had 
been  tossed.  Presently  we  drew  up  alongside 
the  warehouse  and  unloaded  the  fish.  Like  a  man 
hypnotized  I  followed  my  guide  up  the  scale- 
strewn,  fishy  incline  which  led  into  the  cannery. 

None  but  natives  worked  in  this  particular 
cannery.  The  building  shook  and  shivered  with 
every  chug  of  the  machinery.  I  watched  them 
cross  and  re-cross  the  slippery  floor  and  I  could 
think  of  nothing  but  the  Devil  and  a  blood-be- 
spattered Devil  at  that! 

My  experience  up  to  this  moment,  however, 
was  not  a  circumstance  to  what  happened  next! 
When  the  boxes  containing  the  fish  were  thrown 
down  under  a  jet  of  water  they  broke  of  their 


own  accord  and  the  salmon  burst  into  a  stream 
of  silver.  A  native  jerked  one  up,  a  twenty- 
pounder,  deftly  beheaded  and  detailed  it  in  two 
swift  strokes  of  a  knife.  With  equal  deftness 
he  relieved  it  of  its  internal  arrangements  by  a 
third  stroke.  Then  he  tossed  it  into  a  bloody- 
dyed  tank.  The  headless,  tailless,  insideless  fish 
fairly  leaped  from  his  hands — just  as  though  it 
were  once  more  taking  the  rapids.  But  not  so. 
The  next  man  caught  him  up  short.  What  the 
first  man  had  left  undone  the  second  one  polished 
off  to  a  fine  degree.  He  proceeded  to  commit 
additional  murder  of  the  most  damnable  sort. 
He  thrust  the  fish  under  a  machine  resembling 
a  chaff-cutter  which  hewed  and  hacked  it  into 
unseemly  red  pieces  ready  for  the  can  and  the 
poor  mutilated  remains  were  ready  for  the  third 
man. 

With  long,  bony,  crooked  fingers  he  jammed 
the  pieces  into  cans  which,  sliding  down  a  mar- 
velous machine,  forthwith  proceeded  to  solder 
their  own  tops  as  they  passed!  The  fourth  man 
tested  the  can  for  flaws  and  then  it  was  sunk 
(with  hundreds  of  others)  into  a  vat  of  boiling 
water  to  be  cooked  for  a  few  minutes.  The  cans 
bulged  slightly  after  this  operation  and  were 
slidden  along  on  trolleys  to  the  fifth  man  who 
with  a  needle  and  soldering  iron  vented  them 


132    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

and  then  soldered  the  little  aperture.  The  proc- 
ess was  finished — all  except  the  label.  This  at- 
tached, the  "finest  salmon  on  the  market"  was 
ready  for  shipment. 

In  Alaska  we  get  used  to  almost  everything 
in  time,  but  I  confess  that  it  took  me  some  time 
to  pull  myself  together  after  this  experience. 
Never  had  I  been  so  conscious  of  the  grim  con- 
trasts of  life  as  when  I  stepped  outside  that  can- 
nery! In  that  rude  factory,  the  floor  of  which 
was  but  forty  by  ninety  feet,  I  had  seen  the  most 
civilized  and  the  most  murderous  machinery! 
Outside,  only  a  few  feet  away,  before  my  eyes 
lay  the  most  beautiful  of  God's  country, — the 
immense  solitude  of  the  hills !  I  fairly  fled  down 
to  the  launch  by  which  I  was  to  journey  back 
down  the  river,  trying  to  get  as  far  away  as  pos- 
sible from  the  slippery,  scale-spangled,  oily  floors 
and  the  blood-bespattered  Eskimos.  But  it  was 
like  a  doctor's  first  surgical  operation.  I  got  over 
it,  and  after  several  years'  residence  in  the  coun- 
try became  so  accustomed  to  the  sights  of  a  can- 
nery that  they  now  make  little  or  no  impression. 
The  canneries  are  Alaska's  greatest  asset. 

To  state  how  many  cans  of  salmon  go  out  year- 
ly would  be  an  impossible  task.  All  we  know 
is  that  the  value  of  the  Alaskan  salmon  fisheries 


THE  HAUNT  OF  THE  SALMON    133 

can  not  be  computed.  It  is  true  that  Alaska 
derives  much  of  her  wealth  from  the  copper,  gold 
and  silver  mines  and  her  practically  untouched 
coal  deposits.  But  her  fisheries  are  the  most  im- 
portant of  her  industries.  Mines  have  a  way  of 
giving  out  suddenly,  for  no  apparent  reason. 
But  the  fish  reproduce  themselves  each  year.  The 
fisheries  of  Alaska  can  not  fail. 

Next  to  the  fisheries  the  fur  business  is  per- 
haps the  most  important  industry.  Here  again 
is  a  business  opening  for  him  who  seeks  it.  As 
very  warm  clothing  is  necessary,  tanners  ought 
to  find  the  land  full  of  opportunities.  The  fur 
business  is  perhaps  the  easiest  way  to  affluence 
which  presents  itself  in  Alaska.  Native  hunters 
and  trappers  follow  the  old  rule  and  hunt  their 
prey  from  Nature's  supply.  But  many  have  al- 
ready gone  into  the  raising  of  fur-bearing  ani- 
mals as  a  business,  just  as  the  farmer  raises  sheep 
for  the  wool. 

Fox  farming  is  the  most  popular  and  a  great 
industry  is  being  developed.  Many  who  began 
this  business  in  Alaska  have  since  transported 
it  to  the  States.  In  the  west  are  some  twelve  or 
fifteen  such  institutions  and  the  eastern  States 
also  contain  a  few.  The  value  of  the  fox  fur  is 
known  to  all  and,  as  has  been  said,  from  four  to 


134    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

seven  hundred  dollars  is  not  an  unusual  price  for 
the  black  and  silver  fox  skins. 

Judge  Martin  F.  Moran,  of  the  Kobuk  dis- 
trict, is  experimenting  in  angora  goat-raising 
in  which  he  thinks  there  is  a  great  future.  Judge 
Moran  lives  twenty  miles  north  of  the  Arctic 
Circle.  Since  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  an- 
gora ranchers  in  the  west  have  netted  large  for- 
tunes by  supplying  mohair,  and  conditions  for 
raising  the  goats  are  less  favorable  there  than  in 
Alaska.  Judge  Moran  is  planning  (and  has  per- 
haps already  carried  out  his  plan)  to  import  a 
herd  of  angoras  which  shall  graze  upon  the  rich 
reindeer  moss  which  grows  so  abundantly  in  the 
tundra  of  western  and  northern  Alaska. 

The  sea-otter,  the  most  valuable  fur-bearing 
animal,  may  not  now  be  hunted,  according  to  a 
law  enacted  by  Congress,  until  November  first, 
1920.  These  were  formerly  numerous,  but  they 
are  now  threatened  with  extinction  and  are  to 
be  found  only  on  some  of  the  Aleutian  Islands. 
It  has  been  estimated  that  during  the  Russian 
occupation  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  sea- 
otter  skins  were  taken,  valued  at  twenty-six  mil- 
lion dollars.  Since  the  United  States  took  over 
the  country  in  1867  about  ninety  thousand  have 
been  marketed.  Now,  however,  the  output  is  only 
about  twenty  skins  a  year.  A  good  otter  skin  is 


THE  HAUNT  OF  THE  SALMON    135 

very  valuable,  ranging  in  price  from  eight  hun- 
dred to  eighteen  hundred  dollars. 

The  seal-fur  industry,  although  developed  by 
the  Russians,  reached  its  height  after  the  terri- 
tory was  acquired  by  the  United  States.  From 
1867  to  1902  seal  skins  to  the  value  of  thirty-five 
million  dollars  were  exported.  The  fur  seal,  al- 
though widely  distributed  throughout  the  coun- 
try, has  but  one  breeding  place, — the  Pribilof 
Islands.  Here  most  of  the  skins  are  taken.  The 
seals  were  slaughtered  in  the  most  ruthless 
fashion  and  the  government  at  last  awoke  to  the 
knowledge  that  the  seal  was  in  a  fair  way  to  fol- 
low the  sea-otter  unless  protected.  In  1870  the 
capture  of  seals  on  these  islands  was  prohibited 
by  law.  The  United  States  took  charge  of  the 
islands  and  the  fisheries.  Natives  may  kill  annu- 
ally only  enough  seals  to  provide  themselves 
with  food  and  clothing.  The  destruction  of  the 
herds  was  thus  halted  by  the  government  and  in 
1912  the  census  revealed  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
thousand,  nine  hundred  and  forty  seals. 

From  the  sale  of  fox  furs  and  seal  skins  the 
government  has  derived  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  a  direct  revenue  almost  covering  the 
total  purchase  price  of  Alaska.  There  are  ap- 
proximately twenty  thousand  white  people  in  the 


136    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

territory.  In  China  there  are  four  hundred  mil- 
lion. Yet  in  1915  the  United  States  trade  with 
Alaska  was  five  million  dollars  in  excess  of  the 
total  United  States  trade  with  China  1 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  THE  WORLD 

A  LASKA  is  a  land  of  scenic  splendor.  She 
-^V.  has  scenery  as  beautiful  as  that  of  Switzer- 
land or  New  Zealand.  From  my  own  cottage 
doorway  I  have  seen  sunsets  which  equaled  those 
of  Mont  Blanc,  famed  in  song  and  story,  and  I 
have  traveled  through  valleys  which  in  summer 
rivaled  the  celebrated  Vale  of  Chamounix.  Who- 
ever it  was  who  selected  the  Seven  Wonders  of 
the  World  of  which  we  learned  in  our  school  days 
would  have  had  to  add  to  the  list  if  he  had  ever 
dwelt  for  any  length  of  time  "north  of  fifty- 
three." 

The  country  boasts  some  of  the  greatest  won- 
ders of  Nature.  The  Calico  Bluffs  on  the  Yukon 
are  as  high  as  the  Washington  monument  and 
their  strata  look  much  like  agate  formations.  She 
has  five  thousand  glaciers  which  are  giants  in 
comparison  with  those  of  the  Alps.  The  Childs 
Glacier  is  as  tall  as  the  dome  of  the  capital  at 
Washington.  Of  the  hundreds  of  others  there 

are  many  that  are  known  as  "first  class"  glaciers, 

137 


By  this  is  meant  that  they  discharge  their  con- 
tents into  the  sea  direct.  Among  them  are  the 
LeConte,  Dawes,  Brown,  Sawyer  and  Taku.  It 
is  the  latter  which  furnishes  the  bergs  that  sur- 
round the  ships  which  carry  travelers  northward 
through  the  "Inside"  route.  From  the  deck  of 
the  vessel,  near  Taku  Inlet,  forty-five  glaciers 
may  be  counted.  Of  these,  as  you  face  Taku, 
Norris  glacier  stands  to  the  left.  It  is  unique  in 
that  it  sends  out  two  seemingly  full-grown  rivers, 
one  flowing  to  north  and  one  to  south.  Flowers 
may  be  seen  growing  in  the  forest  glades  nearby, 
and  remnants  of  tree  stumps  two  feet  in  diam- 
eter reveal  that  the  glacier  must  once  have  with- 
drawn long  enough  at  least  to  permit  them  to 
grow.  Then  a  change  of  climate  or  other  natural 
action  must  have  pushed  the  ice  forward  again 
to  cut  them  off  and  grind  them  into  fragments, 
— making  them  a  part  of  the  glacial  debris. 

Mendenhall  Glacier  is  near  Juneau.  It  is  eas- 
ily reached  by  automobile  and  a  delightful  experi- 
ence it  is  to  ride  along  the  highway  leading  to  it. 
The  road  is  fringed  with  masses  of  wild  flowers. 
Imagine,  if  you  can,  sitting  in  the  shade  of  a 
gigantic  cottonwood,  or  spruce,  and  eating  ice 
cream  made  from  the  milk  of  cows  which  now 
pasture  upon  the  grass  where  once  the  ice  stood 
a  thousand  feet  deep!  Mendenhall,  according 


EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  WORLD     139 

to  the  best  authorities,  is  at  least  twenty-five  miles 
long, — almost  twice  the  length  of  the  largest  gla- 
cier the  Alps  affords. 

The  highest  mountain  peak  in  Alaska  was 
known  to  the  Russians  as  Bulshaia  and  to  the 
natives  of  Cook  Inlet  as  Traleyka.  Both  words 
signify  the  "great"  or  the  "high"  mountain.  The 
natives  of  the  interior  called  it  Denali,  but  in 
1895  it  was  named  Mt.  McKinley.  It  is  twenty 
thousand  three  hundred  feet  high,  exceeded  in 
height  only  by  Aconcogua  of  South  America  and 
Mt.  Everest  in  Indo-China.  It  was  named  by 
W.  A.  Dickey,  who  saw  it  from  the  Susitna 
River.  Later  its  position  and  altitude  were  de- 
termined. Many  have  attempted  to  ascend  it. 
In  1912  Prof.  Herschel  Parker  of  Columbia 
University  and  Mr.  Belmore  Browne  of  Tacoma, 
Washington,  got  within  three  hundred  feet  of  the 
summit,  and  in  1913,  Rev.  Hudson  Stuck,  Arch- 
deacon of  the  Yukon  and  author  of  Ten  Thou- 
sand Miles  with  a  Dog  Sled  and  Voyages  on  the 
Yukon,  together  with  three  companions,  reached 
the  top. 

Above  the  recently-created  National  Park  Mt. 
McKinley  towers  in  majestic  sublimity,  the  ever- 
lasting sentinel,  the  guardian,  as  it  were,  of  the 
last  and  loveliest  spot  on  earth  which  remains  as 


140    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

Nature  fashioned  it,  still  untouched  by  human 
hands. 

Mt.  St.  Elias  is  better  known  and  has  been 
much  written  about.  Its  height  is  eighteen  thou- 
sand and  twenty-four  feet.  Mt.  Logan  is  nine- 
teen thousand  five  hundred  and  forty  feet.  Of 
the  two  now-celebrated  passes  in  the  mountains 
of  the  Yukon,  the  Chilkoot  and  White  Pass,  the 
former  is  at  a  height  of  three  thousand  one  hun- 
dred feet  and  the  latter  at  a  height  of  twenty- 
eight  hundred  feet.  It  was  over  these  passes  that 
the  gold-seekers  of  1898  stampeded  into  Klon- 
dike. 

But  the  mountains  of  Alaska,  glorious,  majes- 
tic and  awe-inspiring  as  they  are,  are  the  losers 
when  compared  with  the  greatest  of  Alaskan 
wonders,  the  volcanoes.  Of  these,  Mt.  Katmai, 
opposite  the  Island  of  Kodiak,  the  terrific  erup- 
tion of  which  in  June,  1912,  is  well  remembered, 
is  most  celebrated.  At  that  time  a  mass  of  ash 
and  pummice,  the  volume  of  which  is  estimated 
at  five  cubic  miles,  was  thrown  into  the  air.  It 
buried  an  area  about  the  size  of  the  State  of 
Connecticut  to  a  depth  varying  from  ten  inches 
to  ten  feet  and  smaller  amounts  of  the  ash  fell 
as  far  as  nine  hundred  miles  away.  Unquestion- 
ably, the  notoriously  cold,  wet  summer  which  fol- 
lowed the  eruption  was  due  to  the  fine  dust  which 


EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  WORLD     141 

was  thrown  into  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmos- 
phere to  such  an  extent  as  to  have  a  profound 
effect  upon  the  weather.  At  the  time  of  the 
eruption  I  was  at  sea,  on  my  way  from  St. 
Michael  to  the  States.  It  was  not  long  until  the 
ash  began  falling  over  us,  filling  the  air  and  seem- 
ingly trying  to  cover  the  face  of  the  waters.  It 
got  into  our  lungs  and  made  them  ache.  It  was 
not  until  some  time  later  that  I  heard  that  it  was 
Mt.  Katmai  which  had  exploded  and  that  the 
eruption  was  one  which  would  go  down  in  his- 
tory. There  was  not,  of  course,  the  enormous 
loss  of  life  which  followed  the  eruptions  of  Ve- 
suvius, Stromboli  and  Mt.  Pelee.  But  in  other 
respects  the  explosion  of  Mt.  Katmai  was  unique. 
Kodiak,  the  town  which  was  buried,  was  a  hun- 
dred miles  away.  Ash  fell  as  far  away  as  Ju- 
neau,  Ketchikan  and  the  Yukon  valley,  distant 
respectively  six  hundred,  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
and  nine  hundred  miles. 

In  the  report  of  the  leader  of  the  National 
Geographic  Society's  Mt.  Katmai  Expedition  of 
1915-'16,  Robert  F.  Griggs,  of  the  Ohio  State 
University,  is  the  following  paragraph  which 
gives  concisely  a  good  idea  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  explosion: 

"Such  an  eruption  of  Vesuvius  would  bury 
Naples  under  fifteen  feet  of  ash.  Rome  would 


142    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

be  covered  a  foot  deep.  The  sound  would  be 
heard  at  Paris.  Dust  from  the  crater  would  fall 
in  Brussels  and  Berlin  and  the  fumes  would  be 
noticeable  far  beyond  Christiana,  Norway." 

Yet  it  was  only  a  little  over  a  year  after  this 
eruption  that  I  myself  saw  those  ash-laden  hills 
covered  again  with  green  verdure!  The  native 
blue-top  hay  was  growing  right  through  the  ash 
which  had  been  washed  off  the  hills  and  was  then 
covering  the  land  a  foot  and  a  half  deep.  I  was 
deeply  interested  in  the  native  method  of  harvest- 
ing this  hay.  In  the  pursuit  of  agriculture  as  I 
understood  it  I  had  never  encountered  this  prac- 
tice elsewhere.  The  hay  was  cut  high  up  on  the 
mountain.  It  was  done  into  bundles  in  fish  nets 
and  was  then  sent  tumbling  down  the  mountain- 
side to  the  bottom.  There  it  was  picked  up  and 
carried  off  homeward  or  else  loaded  on  boats  to 
be  shipped  elsewhere. 

At  the  time  of  the  eruption  the  natives,  fortu- 
nately for  them,  were  all  away  fishing.  They 
were  never  permitted  to  return  to  their  moun- 
tain. The  government  built  them  a  new  town 
and  conveyed  them  thither  in  a  body,  thus  estab- 
lishing them  in  it.  The  village  was  not  near  the 
crater.  It  was  about  twenty-five  miles  away. 
This  is  five  times  as  far  distant  from  the  volcano 


EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  WORLD     143 

as  Pompeii  was  from  Vesuvius  or  St.  Pierre  from 
Mt.  Pelee. 

As  has  been  said,  the  verdure  has  returned. 
Around  Kodiak  it  is  vividly,  beautifully  green. 
But  the  Katmai  Valley,  once  fertile  and  now  a 
barren  waste,  contains  what  the  writer  firmly  be- 
lieves to  be  the  most  wonderful  and  awe-inspiring 
sight  in  the  whole  world.  On  the  second  visit  of 
the  Expedition  of  the  National  Geographic  So- 
ciety, the  following  year,  Prof.  Griggs  explored 
and  named  it.  He  called  it  "The  Valley  of  Ten 
Thousand  Smokes" — than  which  there  could  be 
no  better  name ! 

There  are  no  words  in  the  language  capable 
of  giving  any  definite  impression  of  the  scene. 
Stretching  away  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  until 
the  valley  is  lost  in  the  far-distant  mountains, 
lie  literally  thousands  of  small  volcanos,  replicas 
in  miniature  of  Katmai,  the  Great!  From  al- 
most every  one  of  them  shoots  a  slender  column 
of  steam  which  rises  steadily  and  gracefully, 
sometimes  to  a  height  of  a  thousand  feet  before 
it  breaks  or  even  wavers !  Words  become  futile. 
One  could  not  exaggerate  it  if  he  tried.  There 
would  not  be  an  adjective  left  in  the  language 
when  he  finished! 

My  own  view  of  the  valley  was  hasty,  super- 
ficial and  from  a  respectful  distance !  I  can  well 


144    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

appreciate,  however,  what  the  Expedition  en- 
dured in  order  to  give  to  the  world  knowledge 
of  this  wondrous  spot.  I  heartily  commend  to 
the  readers  of  this  volume  the  report  of  Prof. 
Griggs  in  the  National  Geographic  Magazine  for 
May,  1917,  in  which  he  relates  the  experience  of 
himself  and  his  party  as  they  made  their  way 
back  and  forth,  plunging  through  suffocating  va- 
pors, trapping  gases  for  chemical  analysis,  mak- 
ing soundings,  mapping  the  course  of  the  valley 
and  studying  the  geology  of  what  he  calls  "the 
most  amazing  example  of  her  processes  which 
Nature  has  yet  revealed  to  twentieth  century 
man, — one  of  Vulcan's  melting  pots  from  which 
the  earth  was  created."  In  a  tent  less  than  two 
miles  from  one  of  the  huge  clouds  of  steam  he 
slept  at  night  and  on  one  of  the  large  flat  stones 
outside,  so  hot  that  it  was  a  natural  stove,  the 
members  of  the  Expedition  cooked  their  food. 

One  gets  the  best  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
valley  by  comparing  it  with  our  Yellowstone 
Park.  The  Katmai  valley  is  thirty-two  miles 
long,  about  two  miles  wide  and  seventy  square 
miles  in  area.  In  the  Yellowstone  are  four  thou- 
sand hot  springs  and  a  hundred  geysers  scattered 
over  three  thousand  square  miles.  The  geysers 
occur  in  isolated  basins  the  total  area  of  which 
is  hardly  twenty  miles.  The  largest  one,  and  it 


EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  WORLD     145 

plays  but  seldom,  shoots  up  a  column  about  three 
hundred  feet  high.  Old  Faithful,  which  is  the 
only  one  the  tourist  can  ever  be  sure  of  seeing 
in  action,  is  only  a  hundred  feet  high.  In  the 
Alaskan  valley,  however,  observe  the  contrast. 
There  are  thousands  of  vents  in  constant  action. 
Some  of  these  ascend  more  than  five  thousand 
feet  into  the  air  when  conditions  are  good  and 
when  the  valley  is  wind-swept  they  creep  along 
the  ground  for  two  or  three  miles !  These  vents 
are  not  geysers.  They  are  hot  springs.  Geysers 
can  exist  only  when  the  rock  through  which  they 
break  is  sufficiently  cool  to  permit  water  to  form. 
It  is  unlikely  therefore  that  there  will  ever  be 
geysers  here, — at  least  not  for  many  centuries. 
The  valley  may  gradually  cool  so  as  to  permit 
their  formation.  But  it  will  be  ages  hence. 

Prof.  Griggs  is  emphatic  in  his  belief  that 
there  is  nothing  known  to  mankind  with  which 
"The  Valley  of  Ten  Thousand  Smokes"  can  be 
compared.  I  agree  with  him.  Would  that  it 
were  more  accessible  to  the  traveler  and  that  no 
tourist  would  return  from  a  sojourn  in  Alaska' 
without  seeing  it !  I  shall  never  cease  to  be  grate- 
ful that  a  fortunate  circumstance  permitted  me 
to  obtain  even  so  small  a  peep  at  it.  Surely 
nothing  approaching  it  has  been  seen  by  man 
upon  this  earth.  The  Expedition  report  states, 


146    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

among  other  interesting  things,  that  the  water  is 
so  hot  that  the  thermometer  would  not  register 
it  and  that  the  heat  from  the  stones  would  char  a 
piece  of  wood  instantly! 

Kilauea,  in  Hawaii,  has  always  borne  the 
reputation  of  being  king  of  volcanoes.  It  is  now 
dethroned.  Mention  has  already  been  made  of 
Mt.  Shishaldin,  on  Unimak  Island.  As  no  ge- 
ographer has  ever  visited  it,  little  is  known  about 
it.  Katmai,  however,  is  unquestionably  the  mon- 
arch. Not  so  much  in  diameter,  circumference 
or  area  does  it  exceed  Kilauea.  It  is  in  depth. 
Kilauea's  greatest  depth  is  five  hundred  feet. 
Katmai's  is  thirty-seven  hundred  feet! 

In  an  attempt  to  give  some  idea  of  the  magni- 
tude of  Katmai,  I  quote  once  more  from  Prof. 
Griggs'  report: 

"If  every  single  structure  in  New  York, 
Brooklyn,  the  Bronx  and  the  other  boroughs  of 
Greater  New  York  were  gathered  together  and 
deposited  in  the  crater  of  Mt.  Katmai,"  he  says, 
"the  hole  that  remained  would  still  be  more  than 
twice  as  large  as  that  of  Kilauea."  The  king  is 
dead.  Long  live  the  king — of  volcanoes ! 

From  the  glaciers  and  the  mountains  of  Alaska 
to  the  rivers  is  but  a  natural  turn.  One  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  the  life  and  commer- 
cial development  of  a  country  is,  of  course,  her 


EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  WORLD     147 

river  navigation.  Alaska  has  two  great  gateways 
to  Bering  Strait, — the  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim 
rivers.  Until  recently  only  the  Yukon  was  avail- 
able for  commercial  purposes,  but  the  United 
States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  has  announced 
that  at  last  a  channel  has  been  charted  through 
the  delta  of  the  Kuskokwim.  This  means  much. 
It  means  that  a  River  of  Doubt  has  become  a 
River  of  Promise ! 

Because  of  the  latitude  at  which  they  enter  Ber- 
ing Sea  the  Yukon  is  navigable  for  three  and  a 
half  and  the  Kuskokwim  for  four  months  only. 
The  entrance  of  the  Yukon  is  shallow,  that  of 
the  Kuskokwim  tortuous  and  not  well  known. 
But  once  inside,  an  ordinary  river  boat  can  navi- 
gate the  Yukon  to  White  Horse,  in  Canada,  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty-two  hundred  miles.  In  spite  of 
the  short  seasons  the  possibilities  of  using  the  river 
in  the  development  of  the  valley  are  apparent  and 
will  suffice  for  some  time  to  come.  Navigation 
is  also  fairly  good  on  the  lower  Copper  River, 
the  Kobuk,  and  smaller  streams.  When  it  comes 
to  the  most  winding  and  tortuous  watercourse  I 
have  ever  encountered,  however, — respectfully  I 
salute  the  Iditarod!  One's  supply  of  adjectives, 
however  ample  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
fails  him  completely  when  he  attempts  to  do  jus- 
tice to  the  crookedness  of  this  river.  It  writhes 


148    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

and  twists  and  turns  like  some  huge  serpent,  and 
when  it  can  think  of  nothing  else  to  do  it  doubles 
back  on  its  own  track !  To  try  to  follow  it  would 
give  a  man  delirium  tremens,  and  like  Tenny- 
son's brook  it  "goes  on  forever!" 

The  Pacific  coast  line,  including  the  Aleutian 
Islands,  has  many  excellent  harbors.  With  the 
exception  of  Cook  Inlet,  these  are  open  to  navi- 
gation from  November  until  June,  but  the  ice 
pack  does  not  extend  far  south  of  St.  Lawrence 
Island.  This  part  of  the  coast  is  almost  without 
harbors.  The  Arctic  Ocean  is  open  from  July 
to  September,  permitting  navigation  to  Alaskan 
ports. 

There  is  cable  communication  between  Seattle 
and  certain  parts  of  southeastern  Alaska, — Cor- 
dova, Valdez  and  Seward.  Telegraph  lines  run 
from  Valdez  to  Fairbanks  and  down  the  Yukon 
to  St.  Michael  from  which  point  there  is  wireless 
communication  with  Nome.  These  are  all  mili- 
tary lines.  The  Navy  Department  maintains 
wireless  stations  at  Kodiak  and  Unalaska.  The 
War  Department  has  wireless  stations  at  Sitka, 
Cordova,  Fairbanks,  Circle,  Eagle  and  Nulato. 
There  are  also  private  wireless  stations  at  Idita- 
rod  and  on  Bristol  Bay  and  many  of  the  mining 
districts  are  now  provided  with  telephone  lines. 

The  United  States  Government  is  thoroughly 


EIGHTH  WONDER  OF  WORLD     149 

awake  to  the  necessity  of  making  safe  the  now- 
dangerous  waters  of  southern  Alaska.  They  are 
now  being  charted  and  soon  the  old  title  "The 
Graveyard  of  the  Pacific"  will  no  longer  apply 
to  them.  Within  the  past  sixty  years  three  hun- 
dred ships  have  gone  down  upon  the  rocks.  Val- 
uable cargoes  amounting  to  eight  million  dollars 
and  lives  to  the  number  of  five  hundred  have 
here  been  lost.  Both  to  southeast  and  southwest 
of  Alaska  lie  many  mountainous  islands,  and  oft- 
times  the  lower  half  of  the  mountain  will  be  lost 
in  the  water.  Like  the  submerged  lower  half  of 
the  iceberg  which  wrecked  the  Titanic,,  they  lie 
in  wait,  seemingly,  for  the  ignorant  or  the  un- 
wary and  rip  open  the  hulls  of  the  ships  that 
venture  too  near. 

The  light-house  service  of  Alaska  leaves  much 
to  be  desired.  The  first  buoy  was  floated  in  1884. 
The  first  light  was  put  up  ten  years  later.  There 
are  three  hundred  and  twenty-nine  aids  to  navi- 
gation now  on  the  whole  Alaskan  coast  line. 
These  include  a  hundred  and  forty  lights  of  which 
twenty-eight  were  placed  in  1915.  On  the  much- 
traveled  route  from  Icy  Strait  to  Nome,  a  dis- 
tance equal  to  that  between  New  York  and  Lon- 
don, there  are  but  three  lighthouses! 

There  are  indications  of  improvement  along 
this  line,  however.  A  first  class  light  is  to  be 


150    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

placed  on  Cape  St.  Elias.  New  vessels  are  being 
built  for  light-house  work  and  for  the  Coast  Sur- 
vey, but  like  all  great  enterprises,  things  pro- 
gress slowly.  About  one-half  of  the  main  chan- 
nels of  southeastern  Alaska  have  been  explored 
by  a  wire  drag  and  as  rapidly  as  the  appropria- 
tions by  Congress  will  permit  the  work  will  be 
pushed  forward. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  CITIES  OF  THE  FAR  NORTH 

OF  the  cities  of  Alaska  the  most  interesting 
historically  is  Sitka.  No  one  will  regret 
the  time  spent  in  visiting  this,  the  former  seat  of 
the  Russian  territorial  government  and  the 
stronghold  of  the  Greek  Catholic  Church.  After 
the  passing  of  the  Russians  it  became  the  first 
capital  of  Alaska.  It  is  situate  on  Baranof  Is- 
land, facing  Sitka  Sound.  The  climate  is  mild 
and  out-door  life  delightful. 

Sitka  is  beautifully  picturesque.  The  island- 
laden  ocean  sweeps  to  west  of  it  while  on  the  east 
the  frothing  Indian  River  surges  down  from  its 
birthplace  in  the  group  of  snow-capped  moun- 
tains known  as  the  Seven  Sisters.  In  1799  the 
Russians  established  a  trading  post  here  and  oc- 
cupied it  until  1804.  The  old  Greek  church  dat- 
ing from  1816  still  stands,  alongside  of  a  new 
one  called  St.  Peter's-by-the-Sea,  erected  in  1899. 
The  city  contains  much  that  is  of  interest, — a 
Museum  named  in  honor  of  Sheldon  Jackson  of 
the  Presbyterian  Mission.  To  the  influence  of 

151 


152    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

this  man  Alaska  is  indebted  for  her  now-thriving 
reindeer  industry.  During  the  rush  to  the  gold 
fields  in  1898  word  was  borne  to  Washington  that 
the  gold-seekers  were  dying  by  thousands  for 
lack  of  food  and  proper  clothing  to  protect  them 
from  the  bitter  climate  into  which,  in  their  inex- 
perience, they  had  entered  inadequately  equipped. 
In  the  effort  to  aid  them  the  government  at- 
tempted to  send  supplies  to  the  starving  camps 
by  reindeer.  The  plan  was  not  a  success  and  the 
government  was  left  with  the  reindeer  on  its 
hands.  Dr.  Jackson  used  his  influence  with  the 
result  that  the  reindeer  were  secured  for  the 
Eskimos. 

Sitka  has  United  States  Public  Schools.  It 
has  also  a  Presbyterian  Industrial  Training 
School  for  natives.  It  is  the  headquarters  of  the 
Agricultural  Experiment  stations,  the  Coast 
Survey  Magnetic  Base  Station,  and  is  the  resi- 
dence of  both  the  Russian  and  Episcopal  Bishops 
of  Alaska. 

Juneau,  the  present  capital,  is  also  most  pic- 
turesquely located.  From  the  water  it  seems  to 
be  lying  on  a  shelf, — the  cliffs  of  Mt.  Juneau  to 
the  rear  and  the  sea  in  front  of  it.  It  is  about  a 
hundred  miles  north  by  east  of  Sitka,  on  Gasti- 
neau  Channel,  opposite  Douglas  Island  on  which 
are  situate  the  celebrated  Treadwell  mines.  Ju- 


SITKA,  THE  OLD  HUSSIAST  CAPITAL  OF  ALASKA 


*'' 


JUNEAU,   THE    CAPITAL 


ESKIMOS  OF  ST.  MICHAEL 


CITIES  OF  THE  FAR  NORTH    158 

neau  is  thoroughly  modern  as  to  churches,  schools, 
newspapers,  hospitals.  It  has  drainage,  police 
and  fire  protection,  telephone  and  telegraph  ser- 
vice and  electric  light.  A  small  town  of  sixteen 
hundred  inhabitants  in  1910,  it  has  increased  to 
a  thriving  city.  The  ever-increasing  population 
is  fast  dotting  the  lower  heights  with  beautiful 
and  comfortable  homes  and  down  below  them  the 
ever-advancing  tunnels  of  the  gold-seekers  keep 
honey-combing  the  rock-ribbed  earth.  As  one 
journeys  northward  he  can  see  the  stamp  house 
of  the  Treadwell  mines,  built  right  into  the  side 
of  the  precipitous  face  of  the  mountain  down 
which  a  railroad  track  has  been  laid  to  carry  the 
ore  from  the  tunnels  that  bore  into  the  heart  of 
the  cliff. 

Ketchikan  is  a  city  of  commercial  importance 
because  of  the  fishing  industry.  It  is  typical  of 
the  settlements  along  the  coast  and  of  the  fishing 
settlements  in  particular.  It  also  is  located  on 
an  island  which  gives  it  many  advantages.  On 
one  side  it  has  deep  water.  On  the  other  side 
it  has  mountain,  river  and  lake.  Ketchikan  is 
one  of  the  best  places  for  the  visitor  to  see  a  "run" 
during  which  the  salmon  crowd  up  the  river  in  a 
struggle  so  fierce  that  many  of  them  are  killed 
in  the  effort  to  reach  the  spawning-grounds. 

The  most  attractive  city  of  this  part  of  the 


154    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

country  is  Wrangell,  named  for  the  Russian  ex- 
plorer and  naval  officer,  Baron  Ferdinand  Wran- 
gell, wise  administrator  of  affairs  connected  with 
the  Alaskan  colonies  of  Russia  between  1831  and 
1836.  During  his  administration  an  observatory 
was  established  at  Sitka.  He  it  was  who  exposed 
the  shameful  abuses  of  the  Russian-American 
Company  and  prevented  the  extension  of  their 
charter  in  1862.  He  was  an  astute  and  far-sight- 
ed statesman,  and  realizing  the  value  of  Alaska, 
he  bitterly  opposed  the  sale  of  the  territory  to 
the  United  States. 

Wrangell,  the  city  named  after  him,  lies  on  an 
island  of  the  same  name  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
southeast  of  Juneau.  The  seeker  after  the  un- 
usual in  his  travels  will  find  here  much  to  in- 
terest and  divert  him.  To  Wrangell  the  traders 
still  bring  the  trophies  of  the  chase,  making  their 
journey  down  the  rapidly-flowing  Stikine  river 
from  the  wronderful  Cassiar  hunting  grounds, 
famed  for  their  big  game.  To  these  grounds 
every  year  flock  hunters  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  to  shoot  the  mountain  sheep,  the  moose, 
the  bear  and  the  caribou.  In  Wrangell,  also, 
one  may  see  the  best  of  what  remains  of  the 
magnificent  totem  poles  of  Alaska. 

No  lover  of  history,  and  particularly  the  his- 
tory of  the  native  peoples  of  the  world,  can  help 


CITIES  OF  THE  FAR  NORTH    155 

cherishing  a  feeling  of  deep  regret  when  he  sees 
the  approaching  decay  of  these  expressions  of 
their  inner  lives.  As  is  the  case  in  our  own  great 
west,  the  steam  roller  of  civilization  is  passing 
over  what  is  left  of  the  primitive  people,  crushing 
out  the  spirit  of  all  that  once  was  and  in  some 
cases  still  is  revered  by  them,  flattening  out  that 
which  is  picturesque  and  distinctive  in  them.  Who 
can  look  upon  the  massive-timbered  communal 
houses  of  the  natives  of  Alaska,  before  which 
were  placed  the  totem  poles,  bold  with  their  bla- 
zonry of  animals,  grotesquely  carved  and  gaudily 
painted, — eagle  and  whale,  bear,  wolf  and  beaver 
— without  a  sigh  that  soon  they,  too,  will  sail  into 
the  past  with  the  caravels  of  Columbus  or  ride  out 
of  the  plains  with  the  buffalo  to  return  no  more  ? 
Through  the  long  ages  the  American  Indian 
has  worshiped — not  the  sun,  but  the  great,  cre- 
ative spirit  behind  the  sun !  And  he  has  expressed 
that  worship  in  the  celebrated  Sun  Dance,  a  truly 
religious  ceremony  in  which  he  is  now  forbidden 
to  indulge  by  the  United  States  government !  In 
like  manner  the  natives  of  the  Far  North  ex- 
pressed themselves  in  totems.  To  a  certain  ex- 
tent they  are  ancestor  worshipers,  as  are  the 
Chinese.  The  totem  poles  are  their  expression 
of  their  primitive  heraldry.  They  erected  them 


156    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

in  front  of  their  rude  dwellings,  with  a  pageantry 
uncouth,  it  is  true,  but  in  a  spirit  of  sincerity. 

I  am  not  one  of  those  who  would  decry  the  in- 
fluence and  the  splendid  service  of  the  mission- 
ary. But  it  is  an  influence  which  often  works 
both  ways.  Many  of  the  latter  can  see  in  these 
expressions  of  pride  of  ancestry  nothing  but  the 
most  arrant  heathenism,  so  the  totem  poles  of 
Alaska  are  rotting  away.  And  no  more  are  be- 
ing built.  The  young  natives  are  being  "edu- 
cated" out  of  any  respect  which  hitherto  they 
may  justly  have  entertained  for  their  forefathers. 
There  is  no  scorn  known  to  the  human  race  which 
is  quite  so  withering  as  that  which  the  man  who 
does  not  know  who  his  grandfather  was  enter- 
tains for  the  man  who  does! 

It  can  not  be  long  until  the  totem  pole  will  be 
a  thing  of  the  past.  Therefore  he  who  would  see 
them  in  all  their  glory  must  not  linger.  All  will 
soon  be  gone.  Here  at  Wrangell  are  still  some 
splendid  specimens,  perhaps  the  best  the  north 
country  now  has  to  offer. 

Skagway  may  be  called  the  city  of  romance. 
Time  was  when  it  held  the  key  which  unlocked 
the  gateway  of  the  Promised  Land, — that  golden 
kingdom  of  the  North.  It  is  now  a  thriving  com- 
mercial center.  The  White  Pass  railroad  begins 
here,  forming  a  sort  of  portage  by  means  of 


CITIES  OF  THE  FAR  NORTH    157 

which  the  two  extremes  of  the  country  may  shake 
hands  with  each  other.  The  railroad  itself  is 
short.  But  it  touches  the  headwaters  of  the  Yu- 
kon with  its  twenty-five  hundred  miles  of  naviga- 
tion, bearing  on  its  broad  bosom  the  commerce 
and  the  traffic  of  Klondike,  Dawson,  and  Fair- 
banks, to  the  outlet  in  Bering  Sea. 

But  this  is  not  the  reason  the  history  of  Skag- 
way is  romantic.  When  the  gold  rush  began 
in  1896  the  landing  had  to  be  made  at  Dyea  at 
the  other  end  of  the  Lynn  Canal.  From  here  it 
was  necessary  to  cross  the  dangerous  Chilkoot 
Pass,  a  most  hazardous  undertaking.  One  day 
the  word  was  passed  along  that  another  pass 
(now  known  as  White  Pass)  had  been  discov- 
ered. With  a  rush  like  a  flock  of  frightened 
sheep  the  gold  seekers  turned  and  went  the  other 
way.  In  one  day  fifteen  thousand  people  left 
Dyea  for  Dawson  and  Skagway  and  in  that  same 
length  of  time  what  had  formerly  been  a  swamp 
became  a  city ! 

Abler  pens  than  mine  have  recorded  in  novel, 
poem  and  play  the  story  of  those  eventful  days. 
All  know  now  of  the  famous  (or  infamous)  gam- 
bling hells  with  which  these  places  were  infested. 
The  spot  in  Skagway  to-day  which  most  attracts 
the  tourist  is  the  cemetery  where  lies  the  body  of 
"Soapy"  Smith.  "Soapy"  was  half-outlaw,  half- 


158    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

politician,  the  "Boss"  of  the  town,  in  fact.  Skag- 
way  was  without  doubt  the  wildest  and  wickedest 
place  in  the  world  during  the  reign  of  "Soapy" 
Smith.  The  decent  and  sober  citizens  stood  it  as 
long  as  they  could.  When  they  felt,  however, 
that  Skagway  had  suffered  from  her  evil  reputa- 
tion long  enough  they  held  a  meeting  and  came 
to  a  decision !  The  Sylvester  Wharf,  now  a  half- 
ruin,  has  been  left  standing  to  mark  the  spot 
where  the  fathers  of  the  town  ran  "Soapy"  to 
cover  and  shot  him. 

Dawson,  in  the  Canadian  Yukon,  had  a  some- 
what similar  experience.  But  the  Northwest 
Mounted  Police  came  to  her  assistance  and 
brought  order  out  of  chaos.  The  fame  of  Daw- 
son  during  the  gold  rush  is  world-wide.  Her 
affairs  are  now  in  the  charge  of  the  Canadian 
government.  There  is  also  a  United  States 
Consulate  there. 

The  most  important  and  the  largest  city  in 
Alaska  is  Fairbanks.  It  lies  on  the  Tanana 
River,  practically  at  the  head  of  navigation.  It 
is  the  site  of  the  Fourth  Judicial  District  and  of 
government  activities  in  the  interior  of  Alaska. 
Fairbanks  is  a  city  of  which  any  country  might 
be  proud,  heated  by  a  central  steam  plant,  with 
schools,  churches,  hospitals,  newspapers,  long- 
distance telephone  and  wireless  stations.  The 


CITIES  OF  THE  FAR  NORTH    159 

electric  plant  which  lights  the  city  also  serves  the 
adjacent  mining  camps.  Fairbanks  may  be 
reached  all  during  the  year  by  a  stage  service 
three  hundred  and  fifty-four  miles  from  Valdez 
and  during  five  months  in  summer  steamboat 
service  westward  to  St.  Michael,  eastward  to 
Dawson  and  White  Horse,  Yukon  Territory,  is 
maintained.  Reference  has  already  been  made 
to  the  progress  of  this  delightful  city,  its  social 
life  and  the  kindly  spirit  of  the  people. 

As  one  nears  the  western  coast  the  cities  be- 
come few  and  far  between.  Anchorage,  on  Cook 
Inlet,  Iditarod  and  Nome  are  the  most  impor- 
tant. The  interesting  story  of  Nome  is  well 
known.  Prospectors  were  working  the  streams 
for  gold  when  suddenly  the  yellow  dust  was 
found  in  huge  quantities  in  the  sand  along  the 
beach!  The  first  settlement  was  called  Anvil 
City  and  was  the  usual  mushroom  affair.  No- 
where else  in  Alaska  was  the  struggle  of  the 
gold-seekers  to  be  compared  with  those  of  Nome. 
Its  exposed  position  on  Norton  Sound  made  it 
subject  to  the  violent  coast  storms.  The  condi- 
tions were  unsanitary,  the  food  and  fuel  supply 
a  subject  of  great  anxiety,  the  water  supply 
scanty  and  the  climate  cruel.  In  the  face  of  all 
these  discouragements,  however,  the  hardy  pion- 
eers fought  and  conquered.  Nome  is  now  a  city 


160    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

of  some  three  thousand,  the  commercial,  judicial 
and  educational  center  of  Seward  Peninsula.  It 
is  a  fine,  courageous  little  city,  compactly  built, 
with  modern  improvements  and  prosperous  busi- 
ness houses.  A  railroad  eighty-five  miles  long 
runs  to  Shelton,  but  Nome  and  the  adjacent  re- 
gions are  reached  direct  only  betwen  June  and 
October,  the  open  season  of  Bering  Sea. 

I  always  learn  with  regret  of  any  tourist  who 
takes  a  trip  up  the  "Inside"  passage  and  re- 
turns by  the  same  route.  What  can  he  possibly 
know  of  Alaska?  The  broad  expanse  of  coun- 
try which  sweeps  away  to  the  north  and  the 
west,  guarded  by  the  mountains,  watered  by  one 
of  the  mightiest  rivers  in  the  world, — of  this  he 
knows  nothing,  for  it  is  a  country  which  can  not 
be  described.  It  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated. 
It  is  this  part  of  Alaska  that  is  Nature's  gigantic 
workshop  with  a  job  in  it  for  any  man  who  asks! 
Here  new  cities  are  yet  to  be  born,  new  business 
enterprises  to  be  established,  new  farms  to  be 
tilled.  Here  any  man  who  chooses  may  have  that 
most  prized  of  all  possessions, — a  home  of  his 
own!  There  is  room  for  all! 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  NATIVE  RACES 

IN  speaking  of  the  native  races  of  Alaska  it 
is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  into  the  subject 
except  in  so  far  as  it  belongs  to  a  book  of  this 
character.  As  was  said  of  the  mines,  the  real 
student  of  such  subjects  will  find  (in  the  jour- 
nals devoted  to  ethnology)  what  definite  infor- 
mation he  seeks.  Strangely  enough,  however, 
a  diligent  search  has  revealed  that  there  is  not 
to  be  found  in  any  library  a  book  or  in  any 
magazine  an  article  dealing  with  that  most  un- 
usual custom  which  prevails  among  the  Eski- 
mos,— the  trial  marriage.  Whether  this  custom 
exists  among  any  other  natives  of  the  world  I 
do  not  know.  But  I  think  not. 

The  natives  of  Alaska  are  of  four  groups. 
First,  the  Eskimos,  who  dwell  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  territory  in  the  area  near  the  Arctic 
Ocean  and  Bering  Sea.  Second,  the  Aleut,  a 
people  closely  related  to  the  Eskimos,  who  are 
to  be  found  only  in  the  Aleutian  Islands  and  the 
mainland  adjacent  thereto.  Thiro|,  the  Thlinkits, 

161 


162    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

who  are  Indians  and  confined  to  the  southeast- 
ern section  of  the  country  known  as  the  Pan- 
handle. Fourth,  the  Athabaskans,  of  the  same 
stock  as  the  American  Indian,  who  occupy  the 
interior  and  touch  the  coast  only  at  Cook  In- 
let. 

The  Thlinkits  were  once  the  most  civilized  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  warlike  of  the  native 
tribes.  When  the  Russians  came  they  found 
them  living  in  well-built  log  houses  and  with  an 
organized  tribal  system.  They  are  to-day  of 
greater  intelligence  than  any  of  the  other  native 
tribes  and  are  skilled  craftsmen.  The  Athabas- 
kans,  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  exception  of 
some  of  the  most  isolated  Eskimo  tribes,  are  the 
least  civilized.  Only  those  on  the  coast  have  any 
kind  of  tribal  organization  and  this  is  not  coun- 
tenanced by  the  United  States  Government.  Like 
the  clansmen  of  Scotland,  they  seem  to  group 
themselves  in  families.  The  Aleuts  were  once 
quite  prosperous,  expert  in  the  taking  of  the 
sea-otter,  a  very  difficult  animal  to  catch.  The 
ravages  of  the  Russian  fur-traders  almost  an- 
nihilated the  native  population.  They  enslaved 
them  and  compelled  them  to  capture  the  sea- 
otters  for  them.  But  the  latter  are  now  almost 
extinct  and  the  Aleuts  eke  out  a  precarious 
existence  by  fishing  and  trapping  foxes.  They 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  163 

call  their  habitations  bardbaras  and  they  resem- 
ble the  igloos  of  the  Eskimos. 

It  is  the  latter  people  that  I  know  best  and  of 
whom  I  would  speak  most.  There  are  no  In- 
dians in  St.  Michael.  The  native  people  here 
are  wholly  Eskimos,  and  one  has  to  live  among 
them  to  realize  the  moral  descent  of  a  once-fine 
native  race.  One  must  know  them  in  order  to 
comprehend  the  height  from  which  they  have 
fallen !  In  winter  they  live  in  their  igloos.  And 
an  igloo  is  a  place  so  unspeakably  filthy  that  one 
can  scarcely  entertain  a  thought  (much  less  a 
sight)  of  it.  In  summer  they  live  in  tents.  Yet 

.  In  spite  of  their  uncleanliness,  in  spite  of 

every  other  argument  which  may  be  urged 
against  them,  one  always  finds  himself  at  the  end 
of  his  ruminations  admitting  to  himself  that,  aft- 
er all,  they  are  a  fine  native  race!  It  is  a  con- 
clusion at  which  he  never  fails  to  arrive  even  in 
the  face  of  appalling  evidence.  The  conviction 
will  not  be  downed. 

I  have  often  walked  about  their  summer  camps 
at  St.  Michael,  Nome  and  other  localities.  Al- 
ways I  have  found  the  scene  practically  the  same. 
One  cannot  help  being  struck  with  the  industry 
which  the  Eskimos  display.  Every  inmate  of 
the  tent  will  be  at  work!  And  each  is  at  work 
upon  something  useful!  Not  one  of  them  will 


164    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

be  caught  idle.  The  father  usually  will  be  seen 
carving  a  piece  of  ivory,  or  wood.  The  Eskimos 
are  skilled  carvers.  While  President  Taft  was 
in  office  a  magnificent  piece  was  sent  him  for  his 
desk.  It  was  carved  from  the  tusk  of  a  wal- 
rus by  a  native.  In  the  tent  the  mother  will  be 
making  mukluksj,  or  fur  boots,  while  the  older 
daughter  beats  out  and  twists  the  caribou  sinew 
into  that  strong  thread  with  which  the  furs  and 
boots  are  sewed.  Let  me  add  that  they  never  come 
unsewed!  The  smaller  children  will  each  be  en- 
gaged in  some  light  task,  such  as  making  curios, 
or  smoothing  the  first  roughness  off  of  the  ivory 
from  which  the  father,  later,  will  carve  some- 
thing. Every  member  of  the  family  will  be  en- 
gaged in  producing  something  of  value.  Wher- 
ever one  goes  among  the  Eskimos  he  will  be 
struck  by  this  admirable  trait. 

They  are  a  light-hearted,  good-natured  peo- 
ple, easily  amused.  They  have  a  ready  smile  for 
you  as  you  pass  them  by.  Compared  with  the 
white  man  they  are  undersized.  From  my  own 
six-feet-two  they  seem  rather  diminutive  to  me 
when  I  look  down  upon  them,  but  they  are  by 
no  means  the  dwarfs  that  people  imagine  them. 
The  average  height  of  the  man  is  five-feet-four. 
Tall  Eskimos  are  not  unusual.  They  are  well- 
built,  graceful  in  movement  and  possessed  of 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  165 

small  hands  and  feet.  The  nose  (in  some  of  the 
tribes)  is  flat,  but  in  others  it  is  quite  the  oppo- 
site, and  the  mouth,  although  somewhat  large,  is 
always  filled  with  beautiful  teeth.  Their  smile 
is  most  attractive.  I  have  seen  many  handsome 
Eskimos, — that  is,  they  would  be  handsome  if 
they  were  clean! 

The  centaur  of  old  was  no  more  a  part  of  his 
horse  than  the  Eskimo  is  a  part  of  his  boat.  He 
is  a  born  navigator, — as  aquatic  as  a  duck.  He 
fashions  for  himself  a  small  boat  of  skin  in 
which  he  practically  encloses  himself.  These 
boats  are  of  two  kinds  and  in  their  construc- 
tion the  Eskimo  reveals  his  ingenuity.  They  are 
cunningly  contrived  and  cleverly  managed. 
With  this  primitive  craft  he  performs  all  sorts 
of  unbelievable  stunts.  An  expert  and  daring 
fisherman  is  he.  The  smaller  boat  (called  a 
kayak)  is  a  sealskin  canoe  and  is  a  rather  tiny 
affair.  It  has  circular  hatches  for  one  man.  The 
bidarka  (or  bidocky)  will  hold  two  men.  But 
the  baidard  is  made  of  walrus  hide  and  will  hold 
from  twenty  to  thirty  persons.  It  will  live  in  a 
heavy  sea  and  is  taken  on  long  sea  voyages.  The 
stranger  who  travels  even  a  short  distance  in 
one,  however,  usually  does  so  with  his  heart  in  his 
mouth  most  of  the  time.  The  fabric  belies  its 
looks.  It  appears  so  flimsy  as  to  be  dangerous 


166    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

and  the  water  is  plainly  visible  underneath.  But 
the  natives  walk  boldly  about  in  them.  Every 
step  depresses  the  skin  for  two  or  three  inches, 
but  long  experience  has  taught  them  that  the 
spot  on  which  they  stand  will  sustain  the  weight 
of  a  ton !  I  have  actually  seen  them  turn  a  sum- 
mersault in  the  water  with  one  of  these  home- 
made craft  and  come  up  smiling!  Yet,  strange 
to  say,  while  they  are,  apparently,  more  at  home 
on  the  water  than  on  the  land,  few  of  them  swim. 
Perhaps  it  is  that  the  water  is  too  cold. 

Who  that  has  seen  these  diminutive  people 
venture  forth  into  a  treacherous  and  perilous  sea 
with  naught  between  them  and  death  but  this 
tiny  home-made  boat  to  do  battle  with  the  huge 
monsters  of  the  ice-encumbered  deep — the  whale, 
the  walrus  and  the  seal — can  question  their  cour- 
age? Not  I!  The  Eskimo  has  made  no  effort  to 
conquer  his  environment.  More  wisely  he  has 
adapted  himself  to  it  and  constrained  it  to  his 
needs.  The  land  of  his  birth  is  inhospitable.  His 
environment  is  savage.  He  wrings  his  sustenance 
from  the  land  only  by  powerful  effort,  and  hu- 
man nature  takes  on  a  new  dignity  in  the  life 
of  such  people.  Only  the  sturdiest  of  creatures, 
set  naked  in  an  Arctic  world,  could  rise  superior 
to  such  an  environment. 

As  for  the  Eskimo  woman, — in  youth  she  is 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  167 

not  unattractive,  often  quite  good-looking,  in 
fact.  But  I  hereby  testify  that  of  all  the  hide- 
ously unattractive  and  ugly  creatures  known  to 
the  human  race  the  full-blooded,  middle-aged 
Eskimo  woman  carries  off  the  palm.  As  it  was 
in  the  beginning,  before  God  said  "Let  there  be 
light" — she  is  without  form  and  void!  She  ages 
rapidly.  She  dresses  as  do  the  men,  in  the 
parka,  a  long,  loose  garment  reaching  to  the 
knee,  made  of  muskrat  and  reindeer  skin  in 
winter  and  of  drill  in  summer,  fur-seal  boots  and 
breeches.  As  the  men  are  nearly  always  smooth- 
faced it  is  often  difficult  to  tell  them  apart.  They 
both  use  tobacco.  And  they  are  nothing  if  not 
economical!  They  chew  it  until  every  particle 
of  flavor  has  vanished.  Then  they  dry  and  smoke 
it! 

A  friend  of  mine,  a  well-known  woman  writer 
who  once  served  the  American  Minister  to  China 
as  personal  secretary,  one  day  confided  to  me  that 
since  the  day  she  left  the  celestial  empire  (some 
fifteen  years  ago)  she  had  never  seen  any  dirt 
worth  mentioning!  Obviously,  she  has  never 
glimpsed  the  interior  of  an  igloo !  With  an  Amer- 
ican Army  Officer  of  the  Medical  Corps  I  once 
visited  one.  We  were  told  that  it  was  one  of  the 
cleanest  Eskimo  villages  in  Alaska.  The  saints 
preserve  me  from  a  visit  to  the  dirtiest  one!  An 


168    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

igloo  is  a  windowless  hut,  shut  tight  against  the 
air.  It  is  usually  crowded  with  a  large  family, 
grossly  clad  in  skins  which  are  poorly  tanned, 
partly  decayed.  They  are  unspeakably  fed, 
greasy  of  skin.  Refuse  of  every  kind  was  piled 
about  the  igloo  and  a  recent  thaw  made  the  place 
a  mass  of  liquid  filth. 

Of  course,  the  reason  for  all  this  is  apparent, 
and  in  a  way  unavoidable.  Fuel  is  scarce  and  hard 
to  obtain.  Therefore,  ventilation,  with  its  waste 
of  heat,  would  be  fatally  extravagant.  Food  is 
gathered  in  summer  and  stored  for  winter.  When 
it  comes  out  of  storage  much  of  it  is  decayed. 
Crowding  is  unavoidable  and  this  means  filth  and 
infection.  Water  is  scanty,  cleanliness  impossi- 
ble. All  this  leads  to  the  prevalence  of  disease 
and  the  disease  most  prevalent  is  tuberculosis. 
Moreover,  this  village  which  we  visited  has  no 
doctor.  The  nearest  one  is  seven  miles  away. 

Conditions  in  Alaska,  so  far  as  medical  relief 
for  the  natives  is  concerned,  are  distressing  and 
inexcusable.  Year  after  year,  with  persistent  reg- 
ularity, the  Sundry  Civil  Appropriation  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  strikes  out  the  modest  sum 
of  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  petitioned  for  by 
the  Board  of  Education  for  medical  relief  work 
among  the  natives  of  Alaska.  In  all  southeast- 
ern Alaska  there  is  but  one  hospital  for  natives. 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  169 

• — a  Presbyterian  institution  at  Haines.  Dr. 
Romig,  a  former  Moravian  Medical  Missionary 
in  the  Bristol  Bay  district  in  Bering  Sea,  gave 
as  an  estimate  that  forty  per  cent  of  the  Eskimo 
population  of  this  district,  numbering  some 
seventeen  hundred  people,  were  afflicted  with 
transmissible  diseases — chiefly  tuberculosis,  syph- 
ilis and  trachoma.  The  physical  condition  of 
these  people  is  pitiable  in  the  extreme.  Yet  the 
government  provides  one  physician  and  a  small 
inadequate  infirmary  without  proper  equipment 
and  maintained  in  an  abandoned  schoolhousel 

Contrast  this  with  what  is  being  done  for  the 
Indians  of  the  United  States.  For  the  three  hun- 
dred thousand  there  are  now  employed  two  hun- 
dred doctors,  eighty  nurses,  seven  dentists,  seven- 
ty field  matrons,  and  seventy-seven  miscellaneous 
hospital  attendants.  Also,  the  government  main- 
tains for  the  Indians  forty-nine  hospitals,  four 
tuberculosis  sanitaria  with  a  capacity  for  caring 
for  a  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety-nine  pa- 
tients! The  reason  for  the  striking  contrast  be- 
tween this  and  the  shameful  neglect  of  the  Alas- 
kan natives  ought  to  be  found  and  removed.  The 
present  condition  is  a  reproach  to  us  as  a  nation. 
Not  only  this,  it  is  a  menace  to  the  health  and 
safety  of  the  white  people  already  there  and  an 
argument  against  the  coming  of  others. 


170    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  of  the  origin 
of  the  Eskimos.  There  is  a  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  whence,  originally,  they  came.  My  own  be- 
lief is  that  they  are  of  Mongolian  origin.  A  simi- 
larity of  language  would  tend  to  strengthen  this 
belief.  When  it  comes  to  a  native  tongue  I  con- 
fess that  the  Eskimo  has  a  peculiarity  which  is 
unique  and  baffling,  more  so  than  I  have  ever  en- 
countered in  any  other  language.  I  once  got  up 
against  this  in  a  manner  which  took  some  time  to 
untangle.  As  United  States  Commissioner  at  St. 
Michael  it  was  part  of  my  duty  to  try  offenders 
against  the  law.  The  first  time  the  offender 
chanced  to  be  an  Eskimo  I  suddenly  discovered 
that  I  had  troubles  of  my  own.  Apparently  his 
no  meant  yes,  and  vice  versa.  I  could  not  under- 
stand it  at  first,  but  at  last  it  dawned  upon  me 
that  although  he  spoke  brokenly  in  English  he 
was  thinking  in  his  own  tongue.  For  instance, 
I  would  say  to  him: 

"You  did  so-and-so,  didn't  you?" 

"Yes!"  he  would  reply,  when  I  knew  very  well 
that  he  meant  to  deny  it. 

I  called  in  a  priest,  a  man  who  spoke  the  native 
language,  from  whom  I  learned  that  my  sur- 
mise was  correct.  The  Eskimo,  when  he  says 
yes  means  "Yes,  I  did  not!"  When  he  says  no 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  171 

he  means  "No,  I  did!"  There  you  are!  One  has 
to  be  mentally  cross-eyed  in  order  to  get  him! 

The  Eskimos  are  very  peaceable  people  ex- 
cept when  (in  violation  of  the  law)  the  white 
man  sells  them  whisky.  It  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  the  latter  has  done  little  to  encour- 
age their  uplift.  In  fact,  he  is  largely  to  blame 
for  the  demoralized  condition  of  the  Eskimo  to- 
day. One  may  no  longer  sell  liquor  in  Alaska, 
but  the  mischief,  so  far  as  the  natives  is  concerned, 
is  already  done.  For  a  long  time  there  seemed 
no  way  to  prevent  the  furnishing  of  whisky  to 
the  Eskimos.  A  law  might  cover  it,  it  is  true. 
But  experience  has  taught  me  that  if  a  man  is 
clever  enough  and  unscrupulous  enough  he  can 
drive  a  horse  and  wagon  through  the  best  law 
that  was  ever  made!  Where  there  was  no  sa- 
loon the  liquor  was  furnished  the  natives  in  the 
guise  of  pay  or  bribe,  and  every  man  who  has 
lived  in  Alaska  knows  how  little  regard  the  white 
man  has  had  for  the  sanctity  of  the  native  home. 
Wives  and  daughters  were  constantly  dishon- 
ored. If  the  husband  or  father  protested  or  put 
up  a  fight  he  was  overcome  by  threats  or  bribes 
and  given  liquor  to  drink  until  what  natural  good 
qualities  he  once  possessed  disappeared  forever. 

If  one  would  see  the  native  races  at  their  best 
he  must  see  them  as  far  as  possible  from  the 


172    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

haunts  of  the  white  men.  There  he  will  find  them 
by  no  means  an  inferior  people.  I  know  of  one 
cannery  where  every  employee  except  the  super- 
intendent and  the  bookkeeper  is  a  native,  and  one 
has  but  to  observe  their  work  to  be  convinced  of 
their  capability.  But  it  seems  impossible  for 
them  to  live  near  the  white  people  without  both 
whites  and  natives  starting  down  hill.  From  the 
acquaintance  to  the  debauchery  of  the  native 
woman  by  a  certain  type  of  white  man  is  but  a 
step.  It  has  not  been  a  great  many  years  since 
the  whalers  used  to  come  up  from  San  Francisco 
to  winter  in  the  Arctic  and  catch  whales.  Their 
first  act  on  arriving  was  to  carry  off  the  native 
women,  take  them  aboard  the  vessels  and  keep 
them  all  winter.  In  the  spring  when  they  got 
ready  to  return  they  would  throw  them  ashore 
unceremoniously.  This  wrent  on  many  years  but 
has  now  been  stopped  by  the  government.  Some- 
times the  white  men  marry  the  native  women  and 
when  they  do  they  quickly  sink  to  their  level.  The 
native  man,  always  imitative  of  the  white  man, 
in  time  forsakes  the  hunting  and  fishing  which 
once  furnished  him  an  honest  living  and  sooner 
or  later  he  is  to  be  seen  hanging  around  the  vil- 
lages, picking  up  odd  jobs. 

Some  of  the  customs  of  the  natives  of  Alaska 
(and  elsewhere)  are  both  quaint  and  startling. 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  173 

When  a  native  guest  enters  a  house  neither  host 
nor  guest  take  notice  of  each  other.  The  host 
goes  on  with  his  work  and  the  visitor  either  as- 
sists him  or  produces  some  of  his  own.  When  he 
departs,  however,  the  host  says  to  him: 

"Inuvdluaritse !"  (Live  well!) 

But  they  greet  the  white  visitor  in  smiling 
friendliness  and  when  he  leaves  the  host  usually 
says  to  him: 

"Aporniakinatit !"  (Do  not  hurt  thy  head!)" 
Presumably  this  is  a  warning  against  the  upper 
part  of  the  low  doorway. 

The  Eskimo's  idea  of  hospitality  sometimes 
extends  to  lengths  which  are  somewhat  appalling 
and  occasionally  it  requires  not  a  little  diplo- 
macy to  refuse  them  without  giving  offense. 
When  one  gets  caught  in  an  Eskimo  village  and 
has  to  spend  the  night  there  it  is  the  commonest 
of  occurrences  for  the  man  of  the  house  to  offer 
him  not  only  the  freedom  of  his  home  but  his  wife 
as  well!  Among  the  natives  the  interchange  of 
wives  is  common. 

And  this  brings  us  to  that  most  discussed  of 
all  questions, — the  morality  (or  the  lack  of  it) 
of  the  native  peoples  of  the  earth.  No  matter  to 
what  far  corner  of  the  world  one  may  journey 
he  will  find  this  problem  the  same  in  all  of  them. 
The  Eskimo  is  no  exception.  Before  the  com- 


174    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW; 

ing  of  the  white  man  he  was  utterly  godless.  He 
had  no  religion,  no  form  of  worship,  no  imagery, 
no  idea  of  any  "happy  hunting  ground"  here- 
after. In  many  sections  this  is  still  true,  although 
they  have  been  brought  under  the  influence  of  the 
church  in  some  localities. 

In  St.  Michael  the  natives  are  not  permitted 
to  live  in  the  village,  but  their  tents  dot  the  hill- 
sides around  and  during  the  summer  months  the 
streets  are  alive  with  them.  Often  they  come 
from  great  distances  with  their  furs,  carved  ivory, 
etc.,  which  they  have  for  sale.  Their  winter 
dwelling,  the  igloo,  is  a  pit  in  the  ground,  roofed 
over  with  logs  and  sometimes,  not  always,  a  win- 
dow made  of  fish  skin  or  the  entrail  of  a  walrus. 
The  hut  is  entered  by  a  kind  of  ante-chamber 
in  the  top  of  which  is  a  hole  large  enough  to 
admit  a  man.  If  he  chances  to  be  a  large  man 
he  sometimes  has  difficulty  in  getting  through! 
He  must  descend  a  ladder  to  a  narrow  passage 
or  tunnel  which  leads  to  the  principal  room,  often 
fifteen  or  twenty  feet  from  the  entrance.  The 
sole  furniture  of  a  native  residence  is  a  seal-oil 
lamp  which  is  used  for  both  heating  and  cooking. 
It  is  lighted  in  the  autumn  and  burns  incessantly 
until  spring. 

The  igloo  is  usually  from  six  to  eight  feet  high 
and  about  thirty  feet  in  circumference.  Often 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  175 

it  houses  from  ten  to  twenty  persons.  During 
the  cold  and  stormy  weather  every  aperture  is 
closed.  How  they  endure  the  odor  and  the  viti- 
ated air  is  something  no  white  man  can  under- 
stand. The  summer  dwellings  were  formerly 
constructed  above  ground  and  consisted  of  light 
poles  roofed  over  with  skins.  Now,  however, 
these  have  given  way  to  the  ordinary  tent  which 
is  not  only  cheaper  but  preferable  for  many  rea- 
sons. 

In  almost  every  village,  or  native  settlement, 
the  visitor  will  find  the  council-house,  a  much 
larger  hut  than  the  others.  It  is  called  a 
kashga,  and  is  used  also  as  a  sort  of  club  where 
the  youths  and  the  unmarried  men  of  the  village 
congregate.  Here  matters  of  importance  are  dis- 
cussed and  guests  from  a  distance  lodged.  The 
hut  is  usually  about  twenty  feet  square  and  ten 
feet  high. 

It  was  in  one  of  these  Jcashgas  that  I  had 
what  was  perhaps  the  most  interesting  experi- 
ence in  connection  with  the  native  races  that  I 
have  had  during  the  years  that  I  have  lived  in 
Alaska.  I  have  come  in  touch  with  the  cere- 
monies of  the  natives  of  many  corners  of  the 
earth,  but  this  one  was  unique, — even  more  so 
than  the  celebrated  Snake  Dance  of  the  Hopi, 
of  Arizona.  I  had  once  been  able  to  befriend 


176    THE  L&ND  OF  TOMORROW 

a  young  Eskimo.  In  gratitude  for  the  favor  he 
invited  me  to  attend  a  native  festival  to  which 
(he  gave  me  to  understand)  no  white  man  had 
ever  been  admitted.  Whether  this  meant  that 
no  white  man  had  ever  been  admitted  or  that 
none  had  seen  the  ceremony  as  indulged  in  by 
this  particular  tribe  I  am  unable  to  say.  Never- 
theless I  understood  that  he  was  attempting  to 
honor  me.  I  confess  that  it  was  with  some  mis- 
givings that  I  went,  but  I  have  never  been  sorry. 

This  particular  ceremony  was  known  as  The 
Ten  Year  Festival.  Some  tribe  from  another 
locality  is  asked  to  visit  the  home  tribe  and  the 
ceremony  is  held  during  the  visit.  The  visitors 
this  year  came  from  Unalakleet,  bringing  large 
quantities  of  gifts  and  many  of  them  going  back 
empty-handed  at  the  end  of  the  festival.  "Pot- 
latching,"  or  trading,  is  the  favorite  occupation 
of  the  Eskimos  and  many  a  time  have  I  been  a 
victim.  But  I  usually  hastened  to  "potlatch" 
whatever  I  happened  to  draw  off  onto  some  one 
else  at  the  earliest  possible  opportunity! 

In  some  respects  the  Ten  Year  Festival  is  not 
unlike  the  ceremonies  of  the  American  Indians. 
In  the  kashga,  heated  to  suffocation,  the  natives 
and  their  visitors  foregather.  A  square  hole  is 
cut  in  the  floor  and  a  sort  of  shelf,  or  bench,  runs 
around  the  sides  of  the  room.  On  this  bench 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  177 

sit  the  principal  personages  of  the  tribe,  their 
feet  dangling  and  not  infrequently  kicking  those 
below  them  in  the  face.  The  "orchestra"  with 
their  tom-toms  begin  their  monotonous  drum- 
ming. The  medicine  man  is  heard  below  chant- 
ing a  weird  tribal  song  and  presently  his  head 
appears  through  the  hole  in  the  floor.  He  comes 
up,  dancing  and  singing,  both  song  and  chant 
increasing  in  intensity  as  he  appears.  The  other 
members  of  the  tribe  join  the  dance  and  the  song. 
Their  motions  become  more  and  more  violent.  A 
perspiration  which  is  largely  grease,  due  to  the 
oil  which  exudes  from  their  skin,  rolls  from  their 
naked  bodies  as  they  writhe  and  lash  themselves 
into  a  perfect  frenzy.  The  women  join  the  dance, 
cavorting  about  unclothed,  just  as  the  men  do. 

The  final  episode  of  the  ceremony  occurs  when 
the  medicine  man  breaks  from  the  Jcashga  and 
runs  outside  in  the  bitter  cold.  Of  course,  every- 
thing is  frozen  tight,  but  a  hole  is  cut  in  the  Bay 
and  into  the  ice-cold  water  he  plunges,  return- 
ing to  the  kashga  dripping  wet.  He  then  tells 
them  that  he  has  been  in  consultation  with  the 
Great  Spirit,  or  whatever  it  is  that  they  call  their 
ruling  power,  and  that  he  has  been  instructed 
to  tell  them  that  the  crops  will  be  good,  the  furs 
plentiful,  that  they  will  be  successful  in  catch- 
ing the  walrus  and  the  seal. 


I  have  already  spoken  of  the  unusual  custom 
of  the  trial  marriage  which  exists  among  the  na- 
tives of  the  Far  North.  So  far  as  I  know,  it 
exists  nowhere  else, — at  least  under  supervision 
of  the  church.  But  when  the  United  States  pur- 
chased Alaska  there  was  a  paragraph  in  the 
treaty  which  read  as  follows: 

"The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territory,  ac- 
cording to  their  choice,  reserving  their  natural 
allegiance,  may  return  to  Russia  within  three 
years,  but  if  they  should  prefer  to  remain  in  the 
ceded  territory  they,  with  the  exception  of  the 
uncivilized  tribes,  shall  be  admitted  to  the  enjoy- 
ments and  all  the  rights,  advantages  and  immu- 
nities of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  shall 
be  maintained  and  protected  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  their  liberty,  property  and  religion.  The 
uncivilized  tribes  will  be  subject  to  such  laws 
and  regulations  as  the  United  States  may  from 
time  to  time  adopt  in  regard  to  aboriginal  tribes 
of  tjiat  country." 

The  supposition  is  that  the  "laws  and  regula- 
tions" were  not  immediately  forthcoming  and 
that  gradually  the  natives  came  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Greek  Catholic  Church.  The  trial 
marriage  is  a  blending  of  the  customs  of  both  of 
these. 

I  presume  that  there  is  no  other  place  in  the 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  179 

world  where  the  natives  approach  more  nearly 
to  living  in  a  state  of  nature  than  here.  This 
applies  as  much  to  their  family  life  as  to  their 
out-door  existence.  In  former  times  when  the 
Eskimo  man  and  woman  decided  that  they  would 
like  to  wage  the  war  of  life  together,  to  combine 
against  their  implacable  foes,  the  cold,  the  storm 
and  the  darkness,  they  just  went  ahead  and  did 
it.  This  was  and  in  many  cases  still  is  the  be- 
ginning and  the  end  of  the  subject  of  marriage 
with  them.  The  native  custom  in  the  olden  days 
was  a  somewhat  strenuous  experience  for  the 
bride.  It  is  still  followed,  but  it  has  now  become 
a  mere  ceremony,  quaint  and  picturesque.  The 
young  Eskimo  seldom  "falls  in  love."  He  se- 
lects a  wife,  usually  choosing  her  for  her  health 
and  strength.  In  the  olden  days,  having  picked 
her  out,  he  would  lie  in  wait  for  her,  seize  her  by 
the  hair  of  her  head  and  drag  her  off  to  his  igloo, 
the  whole  family  following  and  (apparently)  at- 
tempting to  rescue  her.  Strangely  enough,  his 
choice  was  not  always  the  young  girl.  There 
was  a  lively  competition  for  widows,  especially 
if  they  were  the  mothers  of  sons  who  would  be 
able  to  help  bring  in  the  whale  and  keep  the  wolf 
from  the  door. 

Of  Eskimo  morality  and  civilization  there  are 
many  degrees.     Some  of  the  tribes  as  yet  un- 


180    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

touched  by  the  influence  of  the  missionaries  have 
moral  laws  of  extreme  refinement.  And  they 
live  up  to  them!  Do  you  know  of  another  spot 
on  earth  where  both  man  and  woman  who  have 
proved  guilty  of  unfaithfulness  are  meted  out 
the  same  punishment?  I  do  not.  But  the  rein- 
deer Koriaks,  one  of  the  tribes  not  far  from 
Nome,  place  the  greatest  stress  upon  loyalty  and 
chastity  of  both  man  and  woman,  and  the  pun- 
ishment for  both,  when  they  transgress  the  law, 
is  instant  death! 

As  to  many  of  the  tribes,  however,  little  can 
be  said  and  that  little  is  not  to  their  credit.  They 
have  no  higher  conception  of  life  than  that  which 
is  wholly  animalistic.  Through  all  the  long 
ages,  with  them  a  physical  act  has  been  merely 
a  physical  act.  It  has  had  no  moral  significance. 
And  can  the  idea  of  untold  ages  be  easily  eradi- 
cated ?  And,  after  all,  are  they  worse  than  other 
people?  Comparisons  are  odious.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  these  natives  live  out  their 
lives  thus  thinking  no  evil!  What,  then,  of  the 
white  man,  born  with  the  knowledge  of  the  moral 
significance  which  is  attached  to  the  personal  re- 
lationship and  who  has  permitted  himself  to  be- 
come degraded  by  the  vices  of  civilization?  The 
native  man  is  unmoral.  The  white  man  is  im- 
moral. There  is  a  difference!  Moreover,  the 


181 

Scarlet  Letter  is  not  alone  for  the  Hester 
Prynnes  of  Old  Plymouth.  From  time  imme- 
morial among  some  of  the  tribes  of  the  North 
the  unchaste  Eskimo  woman  has  been  forced  to 
wear  a  sign  of  her  degradation, — a  green  band 
in  her  hair.  However,  unlike  Hester  Prynne, 
she  is  given  another  chance,  albeit  an  unfair  one. 
If  she  gives  birth  to  an  able-bodied  boy  she  be- 
comes an  object  of  unusual  and  sincere  respect 
and  her  green  band  becomes,  as  it  were,  a  crown. 
Humanity  itself,  in  the  Far  North,  sometimes 
becomes  quite  as  cold  and  frozen  as  the  land  it- 
self. But  there  is  one  thing  which  never  fails 
to  thaw  it, — children.  And  any  one  who  lives 
long  in  the  north  country  can  not  but  realize 
that  children  are  of  vital  necessity  in  any  sparse- 
ly-settled land.  The  Reverend  Hudson  Stuck, 
to  whose  admirable  volume,  Voyages  on  the  Yu- 
kon, reference  has  already  been  made,  relates 
a  good  story  bearing  on  this  point.  Long  resi- 
dence in  Alaska  has  taught  him  much  that  has 
never  yet  been  writ  in  books  and  has  made  of 
him,  although  a  man  of  the  strictest  religious 
convictions,  kindly  tolerant  of  the  frailties  of 
humankind.  Above  all  else,  he  is  impatient,  as 
we  all  are,  of  the  non-essentials  in  education 
which  are  being  crammed  down  the  throats  of 
the  natives  by  teachers,  often  due  to  youth  and 


182    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

inexperience,  while  the  essentials,  the  things  of 
real  value  to  them  as  individuals  and  to  the  coun- 
try as  a  whole,  are  neglected.  The  Archdeacon 
relates  that  once  he  visited  a  Mission  where  the 
man  in  charge,  a  youth,  with  misguided  enthu- 
siasm, boasted  that  there  was  neither  a  half-breed 
nor  an  illegitimate  child  in  the  village!  The 
Archdeacon  received  the  information  in  silence, 
but  after  a  tour  of  inspection  he  returned  to 
the  subject. 

"I  see  no  children  at  all,"  he  remarked. 
"Aren't  there  any?" 

The  young  man  proudly  admitted  that  there 
were  none, — whereupon  the  Archdeacon  pro- 
ceeded to  shock  him. 

"I  much  prefer  half-breed  children  or  even 
illegitimate  children  to  no  children  at  all!"  he 
said.  "By  the  grace  of  God,  much  may  be  done 
with  the  half-breed  or  even  the  illegitimate  child. 
But  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  hopeless  and  pre- 
posterous," he  finished,  "what  can  ever  be  accom- 
plished in  a  country  where  there  are  no  children 
at  aJir 

It  has  always  been  a  matter  of  real  regret  to 
me  that  the  Archdeacon  did  not  record  the  an- 
swer to  his  question! 

Just  when  the  custom  of  the  trial  marriage 
in  its  present  form  originated  I  do  not  know. 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  183 

That  it  must  have  entered  with  or  at  least  fol- 
lowed closely  in  the  wake  of  the  Greek  Cath- 
olic Church  is  undeniable.  As  was  the  case  with 
the  native  ceremonies  of  the  American  Indians, 
— the  Sun  Dance,  the  Ghost  Dance,  the  Flute 
Dance  and  the  Snake  Dance — religious  ceremo- 
nies, every  one  of  them,  exaggerated  and  highly- 
colored  reports  of  which  were  carried  to  the  gov- 
ernment by  over-enthusiastic  and  sometimes  fa- 
natical missionaries  and  agents  with  the  result 
that  the  government  took  steps  to  suppress  them, 
the  trial  marriage  of  the  natives  of  Alaska,  while 
not  yet  suppressed,  now  rests  under  official  dis- 
pleasure. A  part  of  my  duty  was  to  investigate 
this  subject.  I  did  so — with  a  result  more  as- 
tonishing to  myself  than  it  could  possibly  have 
been  to  any  one  else.  Like  the  man  of  old  who 
went  to  the  temple  to  scoff  and  remained  to 
pray,  I  issued  forth  from  this  investigation  with 
most  of  my  preconceived  theories  on  the  subject 
knocked  galley-west.  Some  of  my  hitherto 
staunchest  principles,  if  not  quite  broken,  were 
so  badly  bent  that  I  have  never  yet  been  able  to 
hammer  them  out  quite  straight  again! 

I  had  it  out  one  day  with  Father  B ,  a 

priest  of  the  Greek  Church,  a  benevolent  and 
kindly  old  man  who  in  the  early  days  of  his  mis- 
sion among  the  Eskimos  had  cherished  a  dream 


184    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

of  them  as  a  separate  people, — a  race  apart,  who 
should  work  out  their  own  salvation  with  the 
assistance  (not  the  insistence)  of  a  wisely  di- 
rected form  of  religion.  That  dream  for  a  while 
promised  to  be  realized,  at  least  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent. But  with  the  coming  of  the  first  white  men, 
most  of  whom  were  utterly  lawless,  he  saw  his 
vision  fade  and  finally  vanish.  Nevertheless  he 
worked  on  and  the  trial  marriage  is  his  solution 
of  the  problem.  It  is  a  sort  of  welding  of  the 
customs  of  both  the  native  and  the  church. 

There  is  one  point  in  regard  to  the  custom  on 
which  I  wish  to  be  plainly  understood.  In 
Alaska  it  is  against  the  law  for  an  unmarried 
man  and  woman  to  live  together.  To  say  that 
the  custom  exists  with  the  consent  of  the  Church 
is  wholly  unfair.  Every  one  who  has  lived  in 
such  a  country  as  this  knows  very  well  that  many 
of  the  customs  as  well  as  the  laws  are  born  of 
necessity,  and  the  custom  of  the  trial  marriage 
is  unquestionably  one  of  these.  It  certainly  ex- 
ists with  the  knowledge  of  the  Church  and  its 
origin  undoubtedly  lies  in  this  fact:  The  par- 
ishes over  which  one  priest  has  jurisdiction  lie 
far  apart.  A  visit  to  each  of  them  is  possible 
only  about  once  a  year.  Without  the  Church 
there  would  be  no  marriage,  even  a  belated  one.. 
Not  infrequently  it  happens  that  a  young  Es- 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  185 

kimo  who  wishes  a  wife  goes  to  the  priest  and 
asks  his  assistance  in  finding  one.  The  girl  may 
(and  often  does)  live  in  one  parish  and  the  young 
man  in  another.  He  will  either  go  to  her  home 
or  she  will  go  to  his.  But  they  can  not  be  mar- 
ried until  the  next  visit  of  the  priest  which  is 
sometimes  a  whole  year  later. 

Before  the  priest  will  consent  to  assist  the 
youth  in  finding  a  suitable  companion,  however, 
he  makes  certain  requirements  which  the  young 
man  must  meet.  He  must  build  an  igloo,  fur- 
nish it  and  stock  it  with  supplies.  He  must  then 
construct  his  boat  in  order  that  he  may  fish  and 
thus  make  a  living  for  them  both.  This  done  he 
may  have  his  girl.  Score  one  in  favor  of  the  trial 
marriage!  He  may  not  have  her  unless  he  is 
prepared  to  house  and  support  her.  When  his 
igloo  and  boat  are  complete  the  young  people  go 
to  the  new  home  and  live  together  for  one  year. 
At  the  end  of  the  year,  however,  they  must  be 
married  by  the  ceremony  of  the  Church.  If  they 
do  not  come  to  him  to  be  married  the  priest  seeks 
them  out  and  forbids  them  to  live  together  any 
longer. 

While  the  idea  itself  rather  sticks  in  one's 
throat,  the  thoughtful  man  can  not  deny  that  the 
trial  marriage  has  much  to  recommend  it.  They 
who  have  come  most  closely  in  touch  with  it,  the 


missionaries  and  priests,  say  that  it  is  indeed  sel- 
dom that  the  couple  fail  to  return  at  the  end  of 
the  year  to  be  married.  When  they  do,  it  is 
asserted,  there  is  usually  a  reason,  and  when  this 
reason  exists,  they  claim,  it  is  far  better  for 
them  to  separate.  The  year  of  trial  has  proved 
that  they  are  not  suited  to  each  other.  If  a  child 
has  come  to  them,  the  mother  takes  it  and  goes 
back  to  her  people,  and  both  the  man  and  woman 
may  select  another  mate  and  enter  into  another 
compact  if  they  desire.  But  this  seldom  hap- 
pens. 

I  argued  the  question  to  a  finish  with  Father 
B .  He  could  not  be  moved  from  his  posi- 
tion and  in  the  end  I  could  but  acquiesce  in  much 
that  he  said.  How  much  better  this  system  is 
than  that  which  prevails  under  the  stress  of  our 
present  day  civilization !  In  the  rapid  and  fever- 
ish life  of  the  cities  of  the  world  to-day, — what 
happens?  The  lover  and  his  lass  during  the 
period  of  courtship  put  forth  their  whole  stock 
of  attractiveness.  Seeing  each  other  periodically 
it  is  quite  simple  to  keep  out  of  sight  one's  faults 
and  weaknesses.  No  sooner  are  they  married 
than  the  hitherto  concealed  frailties  begin  to  ap- 
pear. Then .  They  realize  that  there  exists 

a,  bond  between  them  and  more  often  than  not, 
like  a  dog  straining  at  his  leash,  they  endeavor  to 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  187 

find  out  just  how  elastic  the  tie  is, — just  how  far 
they  can  strain  or  stretch  it.  First  arguments, 
then  differences,  then  quarrels.  Before  they 
know  it  the  cord  snaps.  Life  is  never  the  same 
again.  Lovers'  quarrels  may  be  made  up.  Fam- 
ily quarrels  never!  What  then?  Nine  times  out 
of  ten,  for  social  or  economic  reasons,  they  go  on 
living  together,  ekeing  out  an  unhappy  and  of- 
ten tortured  existence.  What  could  be  worse? 
That  which  (for  lack  of  a  better  term  to  apply 
to  it)  we  call  the  social  evil  is  not  confined  to  the 
scarlet  woman  of  the  streets.  It  often  exists  in 
the  best  families  of  the  land! 

Among  these  people  of  the  Northland,  how- 
ever, it  is  different.  Both  the  youth  and  the 
maiden  know  very  well  that  at  the  end  of  the 
year  there  is  a  possibility  of  either  leaving  the 
other.  The  result  of  this  knowledge  is  that  from 
the  very  first  they  fall  into  the  habit  of  trying 
to  please  each  other!  And  it  is  a  habit  they 
seldom  outgrow.  If  they  find  that  they  can  not 
please  each  other  they  are  privileged  to  separate, 
— in  fact,  are  required  to  do  so.  They  are  not 
permitted  to  remain  together  quarreling  all  their 
lives  and  ruining  the  family  life  of  the  children 
who  come  to  them.  This,  in  my  judgment,  ex- 
plains the  light-heartedness  of  the  Eskimos. 
They  are  a  happy  people  and  the  parents  never 


188 

punish  the  children.  Domesticity  counts  for 
much  among  them.  Home  is  sanctuary  from  the 
elements.  They  have  little  else, — but  they  have 
each  other!  The  manner  in  which  they  are  forced 
to  live  for  so  many  months  of  the  year,  so  closely 
confined,  draws  them  very  closely  together.  I 
question  whether  what  they  lack,  or  what  we 
imagine  they  lack,  does  not  matter  less  than  we 
think.  To  me  it  seems  that  they  miss  little  of 
life's  essential  meaning.  They  do  not  have  much, 
it  is  true.  They  are  often  ill-fed.  They  are  not 
intellectual.  They  are  not  sentimental.  They 
are  just  human!  And  although  they  may  be  for 
months  shut  in  by  the  icy  blasts  of  winter  they 
do  not  complain.  Why?  Because  no  cold  can 
penetrate  the  inner  glow  and  warmth  which  is 
born  of  an  adequate  comradeship! 

The  trial  marriage  permits  the  indulgence  in 
one  of  their  quaintest  of  customs.  No  Eskimo 
maiden  ever  accepts  a  proposal  of  marriage.  In- 
difference to  the  attention  of  her  admirer  is  the 
acme  of  good  form!  I  find  that  "keeping  up 
appearances"  is  characteristic  of  humanity 
whether  the  latter  dwell  on  Greenland's  icy 
mountain  or  India's  coral  strand!  And  propin- 
quity is  and  ever  has  been  the  most  prolific  parent 
of  love — at  either  the  North  Pole  or  the  Equator. 
The  "force"  with  which  the  Eskimo  youth  of  to- 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  189 

day  seizes  his  bride  by  the  hair  to  "drag"  her  off 
to  his  igloo  is  altogether  counterfeit,  as  is  also 
the  attempt  on  the  part  of  her  family  to  "rescue" 
her.  It  is  merely  the  indulgence  in  one  of  their 
most  ancient  customs. 

I  have  been  much  among  the  natives, — espe- 
cially those  who  abide  on  my  island,  and  because 
of  what  I  have  seen  of  their  family  life  I  am  al- 
most a  convert  to  the  system.  As  a  rule  the 
Eskimo  makes  a  good  husband,  willing  to  per- 
form any  labor,  endure  any  hardship  or  suffer 
any  deprivation  in  order  to  procure  food  for  his 
wife  and  children.  Many  an  Arctic  man  of  my 
acquaintance  has  died  for  his  family,  and  I  am 
often  reminded  when  I  think  of  them  of  the  fa- 
miliar lines : 

"All  love  that  hath  not  friendship  for  its  base 
Is  like  a  mansion  built  upon  the  sand! 
Love,  to  endure  life's  sorrow  and  earth's  woe, 
Needs  friendship's  solid  masonry  below!" 

It  is  said  that  some  one  once  asked  Diogynes 

this  question: 

"At  what  age  is  it  best  for  a  man  to  marry?" 
With  the  classical  brevity  of  the  Greeks  he 

replied : 

"In  youth  it  is  too  soon, — in  age  too  late!" 

I  disclaim  any  intention  of  offering  a  treatise 

on  the  subject  of  marriage,  but  the  investigation 


190    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

of  this  custom  of  the  natives  unquestionably 
gave  me  a  huge  jolt!  It  turned  my  thoughts 
into  a  channel  which  otherwise  I  might  never 
have  had  occasion  to  explore.  Would  that  I 
could  chart  it !  If  only  we  could  bring  ourselves 
to  regard  marriage  as  a  profession  and  would  set 
ourselves  in  a  business-like  way  to  excelling  in  it ! 
Could  it  in  any  way  detract  from  its  dignity? 
Or  its  sacredness?  Surely  not.  Medicine  and 
surgery  are  professions.  The  Law  is  a  profes- 
sion, and  the  Church.  Diplomacy,  legislation  and 
arms  are  professions.  Marriage  is  the  greatest 
of  all  professions, — and  the  most  difficult  of  any 
to  master!  One  may  master  to  a  degree  which 
may  be  regarded  as  little  short  of  perfection  the 
other  professions, — music,  art,  oratory,  etc. 
What  man  of  to-day  has  the  conceit  to  regard 
himself  as  a  well-nigh  perfect  husband? 

That  the  rewards  of  marriage  are  incompar- 
able is  undeniable.  Life's  journey,  at  best,  is 
lonely.  No  man  can  deny  that  even  though  his 
daily  task  may  take  him  amidst  the  crowd  he  lives 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  alone!  A  dear  and 
close  companionship  is  all  that  makes  life  toler- 
able. Nothing  else  ever  has,  will  or  can.  Fame 
is  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  Ambition  is  a  disease. 
Affectionate  companionship  and  a  home  are  the 
only  things  worth  having.  Why  not  build  a 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  191 

home  instead  of  a  house?  Why  not  go  about 
the  process  in  a  business-like  way?  Why  not 
make  honor  and  loyalty  fashionable  and  permit 
faithlessness  to  go  out  of  style? 

One  of  America's  foremost  writers  declares  re- 
peatedly throughout  his  excellent  novels  that 
judgment  has  never  yet  entered  into  the  selection 
of  a  mate, — that  sentiment  and  emotion  alone 
decide  the  after  life  of  every  couple  who  are  wed. 
This  is,  unfortunately,  true  except  in  rare  cases. 
None  would  care  to  abolish  wholly  the  electrical 
current  which  flashes  between  the  sexes.  And 

yet .     Marriage  entered  into  from  a  sense 

of  duty  on  both  sides  is  not  without  its  strong 
argument.  He  who  undertakes  marriage  be- 
cause he  regards  it  as  both  a  duty  and  a  privilege, 
or  solely  from  a  sense  of  duty,  who  either  ac- 
tively or  passively  selects  a  mate  for  no  other 
reason,  is  very  likely  because  of  that  same  sense 
of  duty  to  fulfill  his  obligations  faithfully  and  to 
behave  well.  Nothing  in  all  the  earth  is  quite  so 
fine  as  an  active  conscience!  For  such  a  man 
life  reserves  some  of  her  grandest  hours.  The 
Golden  Apples  do  not  grow  so  far  above  the 
heads  of  any  of  us  that  we  can  not  reach  out  and 
gather  them  if  we  try!  And  he  who  follows  the 
path  of  duty  will  find  his  own  apple  quite  as 


192    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

luscious  and  sweet  at  the  core  as  that  of  him  who 
trod  the  flowery  road  of  personal  pleasure ! 

I  am  one  of  those  who  hope  that  with  the  end 
of  the  great  World  War  a  new  spirit  of  toler- 
ance may  spread  its  white  wings  over  all  the 
world  and  that  sooner  or  later  some  of  the  time- 
worn  social  rules  and  regulations,  archaic  because 
designed  for  a  civilization  two  thousand  years 
ago,  may  be  abrogated  or  at  least  amended  and 
modified.  May  the  day  come  when  life  shall  be 
individual,  when  creed  and  dogma  shall  be  buried 
in  a  grave  so  deep  that  there  shall  be  no  possi- 
bility of  a  Resurrection!  When  that  nameless 
and  indefinite  thing  known  as  Public  Opinion 
shall  be  forced  to  lower  its  threatening  finger 
and  lose  its  power !  When  all  men  and  all  women 
shall  enjoy  the  privilege  of  working  out,  each 
for  himself  and  herself,  that  most  potent  factor 
in  the  human  experience,  namely,  the  personal 
relationship,  and  when  we  shall  all  live  saner, 
cleaner,  healthier,  happier  and  more  moral  lives 
in  consequence! 

Dr.  William  H.  Dall,  Paleontologist  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey  and  Honorary 
Curator  of  Mollusks  at  the  National  Museum  at 
Washington,  D.  C.,  has  written  the  following 
charming  verses  about  the  natives  of  Alaska. 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  193 

"Innuit"  is  the  name  by  which  the  Eskimo  calls 
himself  and  his  people  from  Greenland  to  Mt.  St. 
Elias.  The  topek  is  the  winter  house  of  turf 
and  walrus  hide.  In  the  igloo,  or  snow  house, 
there  is  no  wood.  All  Innuit  believe  in  evil  spir- 
its which  are  supposed  to  dwell  far  inland,  away 
from  the  shores.  In  times  of  starvation  Innuit 
ethics  permit  a  mother  to  put  her  baby,  when  she 
can  no  longer  feed  it,  out  in  the  snow  to  die. 
The  child's  mouth  must  be  stuffed  with  mud  or 
grass.  Otherwise  its  spirit  will  return  and  be 
heard  crying  about  the  house  at  night. 

THE  SONG  OF  THE  INNUIT 

O,  we  are  the  Innuit  people, 

Who  scatter  about  the  floe 
And  watch  for  the  puff  of  the  breathing  seal 

While  the  whistling  breezes  blow. 
By  a  silent  stroke  the  ice  is  broke 

And  the  struggling  prey  below 
With  the  crimson  flood  of  its  spouting  blood 

Reddens  the  level  snow. 

O,  we  are  the  Innuit  people, 

Who  flock  to  the  broken  rim 
Of  the  Arctic  pack  where  the  walrus  lie 

In  the  polar  twilight  dim. 
Far  from  the  shore  their  surly  roar 

Rises  above  the  whirl 
Of  the  eager  wave,  as  the  Innuit  brave 

Their  flying  lances  hurl. 


194    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

O,  we  are  the  Innuit  people 

Who  lie  in  the  topek  warm; 
While  the  northern  blast  flies  strong  and  fast 

And  fiercely  roars  the  storm; 
Recounting  the  ancient  legends 

Of  fighting^  hunting  and  play, 
When  our  ancestors  came  from  the  southland 
tame 

To  the  glorious  Arctic  day. 

There  is  one  sits  by  in  silence 

With  terror  in  her  eyes, 
For  she  hears  in  dreams  the  piteous  screams 

Of  a  cast-out  babe  that  dies — 
Dies  in  the  snow  as  the  keen  winds  blow 

And  the  shrieking  northers  come, — 
On  that  dreadful  day  when  the  starving  lay 

Alone  in  her  empty  home. 

O,  we  are  the  Innuit  people, 

And  we  lie  secure  and  warm 
Where  the  ghostly  folk  of  the  Nunatak 

Can  never  do  us  harm. 
Under  the  stretching  walrus  hide 

Where  at  the  evening  meal 
The  well-filled  bowl  cheers  every  soul 

Heaped  high  with  steaming  seal. 

The  Awful  Folk  of  the  Nunatak 

Come  down  in  the  hail  and  the  snow, 
And  slash  the  skin  of  the  kayak  thin 

To  work  the  hunter  woe. 
They  steal  the  fish  from  the  next  day's  dish 

And  rot  the  walrus  lines — 
But  they  fade  away  with  the  dawning  day 

As  the  light  of  summer  shines. 


THE  NATIVE  RACES  195 

O,  we  are  the  Innuit  people 

Of  the  long,  bright  Arctic  day, 
When  the  whalers  come  and  the  poppies  bloom 

And  the  ice-floe  shrinks  away; 
Afar  in  the  buoyant  umiak 

We  feather  our  paddle  blades 
And  laugh  in  the  light  of  the  sunshine  bright, 

Where  the  white  man's  schooner  trades. 

O,  we  are  the  Innuit  people 

Rosy  and  brown  and  gay; 
And  we  shout  as  we  sing  of  the  wrestling  ring 

Or  toss  the  ball  at  play. 
In  frolic  chase  we  oft  embrace 

The  waist  of  a  giggling  maid 
As  she  runs  on  the  sand  of  the  Arctic  strand 

Where  the  ice-bears  bones  are  laid. 

O,  we  are  the  Innuit  people, 

Content  in  our  northern  home; 
Where  the  kayak's  prow  cuts  the  curling  brow 

Of  the  breakers  snowy  foam. 
The  merry  Innuit  people, 

Of  the  cold,  gray  Arctic  sea, 
Where  the  breathing  whale,  the  Aurora  pale 

And  the  snow-white  foxes  be. 

There  is  a  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  ulti- 
mate fate  of  the  native  races  of  the  earth.  To 
my  mind  there  is  but  one  answer.  Search  the 
wide  world  over  to-day  and  where  will  you  find 
a  wilderness?  There  are  none  which  the  aggres- 
sive white  man  has  not  penetrated.  And  wher- 
ever the  white  man  enters  the  native  man  begins 


196    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

to  disappear.    It  has  always  been  so,  and  it  al- 
ways will  be  so. 

If  only  the  white  man  would  let  them  alone! 
Is  it  not  better  to  have  the  vast  Arctic  spaces 
people  by  a  native  race  than  to  have  it  unpeopled 
by  anybody?  The  Eskimos  live  where  no  one 
else  on  earth  can  or  will  live.  They  are  a  pic- 
turesque and  harmless  people.  In  their  struggle 
for  existence  they  have  fought  valiantly.  Surely 
they  have  earned  the  right  to  exist  unmolested, 
earned  it  bravely. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA 

I  HAVE  more  than  once  been.forced  to  endure 
the  suppressed  sympathy  of  friends  who  live 
in  the  Interior  because  of  my  enforced  residence 
on  St.  Michael.  It  is  a  sympathy  wholly  wasted. 
St.  Michael  is  a  bright,  clean  little  place.  There 
are  few  mosquitoes, — a  fact  which  in  itself  is  a 
recommendation.  Although  the  temperature  is 
sometimes  very  low,  and  although  the  Arctic 
winter  sends  down  some  terrific  blizzards  at  times, 
as  a  rule  the  short  winter  days  are  bright,  still 
and  pleasant.  If  one  wishes  sport  it  is  right  at 
hand  on  the  mainland, — wild  geese,  duck,  ptar- 
migan and  caribou.  There  is  also  salmon  fishing. 
As  a  brilliantly-colored  thread  is  sometimes 
woven  into  a  piece  of  embroidery  I  find  one  vivid 
memory  running  through  the  years  I  have  lived 
on  St.  Michael.  To  me  the  most  wonderful  thing 
in  connection  with  those  years  is  the  transforma- 
tion which  takes  place  each  year  on  the  day  that 
the  first  ship  anchors  in  the  Bay.  Like  the  Sleep- 
ing Beauty  of  the  fairy  tale  St.  Michael  suddenly 

197 


198    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

wakens  from  her  long  winter's  sleep.  No  words 
can  describe  that  awakening.  It  must  be  seen  to 
be  appreciated.  * 

When  the  last  boat  leaves  the  island  in  October 
almost  every  one  who  has  been  employed  there 
during  the  summer  season  returns  to  the  States 
as  there  is  nothing  for  them  to  do  here  during  the 
long,  dark  months.  When  the  first  boat  comes  in 
June,  however,  laden  with  tourists,  prospectors 
and  business  men,  they  all  come  back,  and  the 
scene  which  follows  their  arrival  is  one  that  I 
have  never  seen  equalled  elsewhere.  I  have  in 
mind  at  this  writing  two  good  friends,  the  men 
who  during  the  years  that  I  served  as  United 
States  Commissioner  at  St.  Michael,  were  re- 
sponsible for  this  transformation.  When  one  re- 
members that  fifty  thousand  people  passed 
through  the  port  of  St.  Michael  during  the  rush 
to  Nome,  it  is  apparent  that  theirs  was  no  small 
task.  One  of  these  men  was  Mr.  A.  F.  Zipf, 
Traffic  Manager  of  the  Northern  Navigation 
Company.  The  other  was  S.  J.  Sanguineti,  a 
splendid  son  of  sunny  California.  Everything 
connected  with  transportation  in  and  out  of 
Alaska  was  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Zipf,  while  Mr. 
Sanguineti  had  charge  of  the  provisioning  of  ho- 
tels and  boats,  the  providing  of  eating  and  sleep- 


SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA      199 

ing  accommodations  for  the  many  who  flocked 
each  summer  to  the  country. 

The  efficiency  displayed  by  these  two  men  was 
a  thing  to  create  admiration  and  enthusiasm.  Be- 
cause of  Mr.  Zipf's  capability  in  managing  de- 
tails, within  thirty  minutes  after  the  landing 
every  one  employed  in  St.  Michael  was  in  his 
place.  The  clerk  was  behind  his  counter,  or  back 
of  his  desk  in  an  office.  The  cook  was  in  the 
kitchen  and  the  laundryman  in  the  laundry.  They 
did  not  even  go  first  to  the  rooms  which  had  been 
engaged  for  them.  Their  baggage  was  placed 
therein  for  them  and  within  the  hour  St.  Michael 
fairly  teemed  with  activity.  The  men  who  had 
just  gone  to  work  looked  as  though  they  had 
been  there  always.  In  the  same  deft  manner  did 
Mr.  Zipf  handle  the  transfer  of  passengers,  bag- 
bage  and  freight  (enormous  in  volume)  which 
passed  through  the  port  of  St.  Michael  and  went 
on  up  the  Yukon.  Every  detail  had  been  care- 
fully worked  out  before  the  landing. 

In  these  stirring  days  of  our  national  life  I 
have  thought  many  times  of  these  two  men  and 
wondered  that  the  United  States  Government 
has  not  sought  them  out  for  positions  of  respon- 
sibility. Both  would  be  master  hands  in  helping 
to  untangle  the  complicated  mass  of  detail  which 
now  taxes  the  strength  and  the  ability  of  our 


200    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

country.  Uncle  Sam  never  had  greater  need  for 
her  men  of  proved  efficiency. 

Social  life  is  not  wanting  in  St.  Michael,  or  in 
any  other  community  in  Alaska.  We  have 
reached  a  period  in  our  career  where  we  thor- 
oughly resent  being  pictured  as  a  collection  of 
wild  and  lawless  mining  camps  where  faro  banks, 
drinking  joints  and  vigilance  committees  abound. 
The  resident  of  the  Outside,  unless  forewarned, 
would  open  his  eyes  wide  if  asked  to  attend  a 
garden  party,  or  a  four  o'clock  tea,  in  one  of  the 
larger  Alaskan  towns.  Evening  dress  after  six 
o'clock  is  not  at  all  unusual  for  both  men  and 
women.  The  women's  clubs  are  very  much  alive 
and  engaged  in  the  same  activities  as  those  of  the 
States.  In  fact,  one  finds  in  the  various  sections 
of  Alaska  most  of  the  normal  manifestations  of 
cultured  civilization, — the  elements  which  con- 
tribute to  the  upbuilding  of  an  intelligent,  law- 
abiding  commonwealth. 

The  subject  of  intemperance  in  Alaska  has 
been  much  dwelt  upon,  and  rightly,  for  it  became 
such  a  menace  to  the  future  development  of  the 
country  that  the  Alaskans  themselves  voluntarily 
did  away  with  it.  It  was  not  forced  upon  them 
by  any  legislation.  Formerly  liquor  played  a 
great  part  in  the  life  of  the  country  and  in  this 
connection,  no  matter  what  one's  convictions  may 


'SCOTTY"  ALLEN  AND  BALDY 


GEXE  DOYLE,  ONE   OF  THE   OLDEST  MAIL. 
CARRIERS  ON  SEWARD  PENINSULA. 
A   HERO   OF  THE  TRAIL! 


COMING   IN  TO   ST.    MICHAEL   WITH    OUR   THIRTY-THHEE- 
DOG  TEAM   AFTER  GOING  OUT  TO   MEET  THE   MAIL  CARRIER 


SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA      201 

be,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  were  ex- 
tenuating circumstances.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  men  now  in  the  service  in  the  European  War. 
The  soldier  who,  wounded,  has  lain  on  the  battle- 
field eight  or  ten  hours  in  a  driving  rain,  or  all 
during  a  chill,  frosty  night,  often  has  to  have  a 
stinging  hot  stimulant  if  his  life  is  to  be  saved.  It 
is  not  a  matter  of  principle.  It  is  a  thing  of  neces- 
sity. What  man  is  courageous  enough  to  take 
upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  saying  that  it 
shall  not  be  given  him?  He  may  never  have 
tasted  it  before  in  his  life.  It  was  just  so  with 
these  Alaskan  pioneers, — were  they  not  soldiers, 
too,  the  advance  guard,  as  it  were,  of  a  new  civili- 
zation? They  entered  into  a  bleak  and  practically 
unknown  land  where  Nature  frowned  savagely 
upon  them  on  every  hand.  The  half -starved, 
half-frozen,  not-sufficiently-clad  follower  of  the 
trail  had  to  keep  life  in  him  some  way  while  he 
made  those  first  long,  hard  journeys  through  a 
practically  unpeopled  land.  It  was  not  always 
possible  to  have  fire.  So  his  flask  was  often  his 
salvation.  But  liquor  came  to  be  the  curse  of 
Alaska  and  now  the  country,  of  its  own  volition, 
has  gone  "bone-dry."  The  only  business  which 
has  now  no  chance  of  succeeding  in  Alaska  is  the 
saloon. 

Not  a  great  while  ago  an  Alaskan  Carrie  Na- 


202    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

tion  broke  forth  from  the  ranks  of  patient  and 
long-suffering  women  and  did  some  effective 
work.  She  lived  at  Mile  Twenty-three  and  a 
Half,  the  other  name  of  which  village  is  Roose- 
velt. It  is  a  station  'between  Seward  and  Anchor- 
age on  the  new  government  railroad.  Her  real 
name  is  Mrs.  Dabney  and  she  does  not  in  the 
least  enjoy  being  regarded  as  the  prototype  of 
her  belligerent  sister  from  Kansas,  U.  S.  A.  In 
fact,  her  method  is  different  from  the  original 
Carrie.  She  does  not  harangue  on  the  subject, 
neither  does  she  go  forth  with  an  ax  and  smash 
saloons.  Her  way  is  just  to  remark  quietly  that 
"she  won't  stand  for  it!" 

Anchorage  was  a  tiny  village  until  they  began 
building  the  railroad.  Then  before  anyone  knew 
it  it  became  a  bustling  town  of  eight  thousand. 
The  government  made  it  a  prohibition  town,  an- 
nouncing that  drinking  among  the  employees 
would  not  be  tolerated  and  that  liquor  should  not 
be  sold  at  the  road  houses.  Now,  having  had 
some  experience  in  this  line,  I  am  convinced  that 
nowhere  else  in  the  world  (with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  the  Foreign  Legion)  can  so  many  dif- 
ferent types  of  men  be  found  as  in  a  railroad 
construction  gang  or  a  lumber  camp !  And  there 
were  all  kinds  at  Mile  Twenty-three  and  a  Half! 

Mrs.  Dabney  was  a  fine  housekeeper  and  cook. 


SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA      203 

She  saw  no  reason  why  she  should  not  make  the 
best  of  her  ability  in  this  line  so  she  established 
herself  in  a  square  log  house  and  often  fed  from 
seventy-five  to  a  hundred  men  a  day  and  gave 
sleeping  quarters  to  as  many  as  the  house  would 
accommodate.  As  has  been  said,  she  let  it  be 
known  that  there  would  be  no  drinking  because 
"she  just  wouldn't  stand  for  it!" 

The  Fourth  of  July  came  along,  however,  and 
about  twenty-five  of  the  men  decided  that  they 
would  celebrate  the  event.  They  proceeded  to 
collect  the  ingredients  for  said  celebration,  a  part 
of  which  consisted  of  a  demijohn  and  several 
bottles  of  whiskey.  While  they  were  in  the  midst 
of  their  hilarity, — enter  Mrs.  Dabney!  She  or- 
dered the  "boss"  (who,  by  the  way,  was  her  em- 
ployer!) to  his  room.  In  fact  she  escorted  him 
thither  and  locked  him  in  after  telling  him  to  go 
to  bed.  Then  she  went  back  down  stairs,  gath- 
ered up  the  bottles  and  the  demijohn  and  threw 
them  into  Lake  Kenai.  When  she  returned  she 
said  quietly  that  she  had  no  intention  of  cleaning 
up  after  a  lot  of  drunken  men,  that  the  govern- 
ment had  forbidden  drinking  and  that  not  one 
of  them  could  ever  come  to  her  table  again.  The 
men  departed  without  argument.  The  next  day, 
however,  headed  by  the  "boss,"  they  returned. 
They  stated  in  the  outset  that  they  had  not  come 


204    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

to  ask  her  to  take  them  back  but  merely  to  ex- 
press their  regret, — that  she  was  quite  right  in 
refusing  to  be  bothered  with  a  crowd  of  men  who 
would  not  obey  the  law. 

This  act  is  charaeteristice  of  Alaskan  men.  I 
know  no  corner  of  the  earth  where  a  good  woman 
is  held  in  higher  esteem.  The  men  themselves 
are  often  unconscious  of  this  characteristic,  but  it 
crops  out  in  their  little  mannerisms.  For  in- 
stance, there  are  two  ways  of  addressing  a  woman 
in  Alaska.  As  one  writer  has  already  expressed 
it,  "We  call  one  kind  of  woman  by  her  first  name 
and  don't  know  that  she  has  any  other.  But  the 
other  kind  of  woman, — we  call  her  Mrs.!  And 
we  don't  know  whether  she  has  a  first  name  or 
not!" 

It  was  so  with  this  woman.  Neither  miner, 
traveler,  trader,  workman  nor  wayfarer  ever 
thinks  of  calling  her  other  than  Mrs.  Dabney. 
But  my  experience  is  that  there  is  no  straighter 
way  to  a  woman's  heart  than  a  manly  and  sincere 
apology!  So,  in  this  case,  when  she  said  quietly 
to  the  men  that  she  had  tried  to  give  them  good, 
clean  food  to  eat  and  a  comfortable  place  to  sleep, 
that  all  she  asked  of  them  was  that  they  obey  the 
rules  and  not  make  her  work  more  difficult  or 
more  disagreeable  than  was  necessary,  she  made 
friends  of  those  men  forever.  They  respected 


SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA      205 

her  because  they  realized  that  she  herself  re- 
spected the  law  and  stood  for  its  enforcement. 
Finally  she  permitted  them  to  return,  but  she 
ended  the  interview  by  saying: 

"You  needn't  think  you  can  fool  me,  either. 
Any  time  one  of  you  brings  whisky  into  this 
house  I  can  find  it.  More  than  that,"  she  finished, 

"B says  to-morrow  is  his  birthday  and  he's 

going  to  celebrate.  But  he  ain't, — even  if  he  is 
the  Mayor  of  Roosevelt!" 

The  men  of  Alaska,  while  they  admit  that  the 
free  use  of  liquor  was  once  almost  a  necessity  in 
the  country,  see  no  reason  why  it  should  be  so 
now.  Civilization  has  brought  with  it  other  and 
better  means  of  keeping  warm  and  in  good  spir- 
its. Like  many  another  thing  of  this  twentieth 
century  it  has  outlived  its  usefulness.  There  are 
comfortable  homes  in  all  the  populated  sections 
of  Alaska  now, — homes  where  one  sees  just  what 
he  would  find  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Social 
intercourse  and  family  life  are  the  same  here  as 
elsewhere.  There  is  tennis.  There  is  golf. 
There  are  music  and  dancing,  and  a  "chummy" 
feeling  seems  to  possess  all  the  occupants  of  the 
land.  There  is  a  general  impression  that  life  in  a 
thinly-populated  country  is  not  conducive  to  so- 
ciability. I  have  never  found  it  so.  There  is  a 
bon  camaraderie  in  Alaska  that  I  have  found  no- 


!206    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

where  else  in  the  world.  Perhaps  it  is  of  a  brand 
not  to  be  found  except  in  the  far  spaces  of  the 
universe ! 

There  is  one  Great  Day  in  Alaska, — the  day 
when  the  ice  goes  out  of  the  Bay  in  the  spring! 
There  is  something  about  the  sight  and  sound  of 
flowing  water  which  moves  one  strangely  after 
nine  long  months  of  the  "still"  cold.  One  re- 
laxes unconsciously  from  a  tenseness  which  until 
that  moment  he  has  not  realized  has  possessed 
him  and  in  this  connection  I  would  relate  a  bit 
of  personal  experience. 

Life  here,  as  elsewhere,  seems  to  take  on  new 
meaning  in  the  springtime.  Merry  boating  or 
sailing  parties  are  one  of  the  favorite  amusements 
of  the  Alaskan  summer.  One  evening, — it  was 
the  day  that  the  ice  went  out  of  the  Bay, — I  made 
one  of  a  jolly  party  which  went  sailing.  The 
presence  of  an  Army  Post  always  adds  to  the 
social  life  of  any  community,  large  or  small,  and 
stationed  at  St.  Michael  at  this  time  was  an  of- 
ficer whose  heroism  and  self-control  saved  the 
lives  of  all  but  two  of  our  party  of  eight.  Cap- 
tain Peter  Lind  was  in  charge  of  the  boat.  We 
had  known  him  long  as  an  able  seaman  and  there- 
fore put  ourselves  and  our  ladies  into  his  keeping 
without  the  least  thought  of  possible  disaster. 
From  the  Fort  were  two  officers,  Lieutenants 


SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA      207 

Wood  and  Pickering.  The  other  members  of  the 
party  were  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McMillan,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bromfield  and  myself.  When  we  were  well 
out  from  shore  the  boat  suddenly  capsized.  Be- 
fore we  realized  that  anything  was  happening  we 
were  in  the  water.  The  water  was  very  cold,  but 
the  men  were  good  swimmers,  and  we  managed  to 
get  a  hold  on  the  capsized  boat.  We  were  all 
clinging  to  it  when  without  the  slightest  warning 
over  it  went  again.  The  hour  that  followed  was 
one  which  no  member  of  that  little  party  will 
ever  forget.  Captain  Lind  disappeared.  But 
the  magnificent  cool-headedness  of  Lieutenant 
Wood  caused  the  rest  of  us  to  put  up  a  stiff  fight 
and  resolve  to  die  game  if  we  had  to.  Finally 
after  a  battle  which  reduced  the  strongest  of  us 
to  utter  exhaustion  we  had  the  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing six  of  our  little  party  safely  ashore.  Mrs. 
Bromfield  and  Captain  Lind  were  lost.  And  the 
getting  to  land  was  by  no  means  the  least  thrill- 
ing part  of  the  experience.  The  Eskimos  on  the 
shore  heard  our  calls,  and  although  their  little 
boats  had  not  been  used  all  winter  and  were  in 
need  of  repairs,  they  launched  them  quickly  and 
came  to  our  aid.  The  boat  in  which  I  came  in 
took  water  badly.  But  one  sturdy  little  Eskimo 
baled  industriously  while  the  other  rowed. 
I  once  heard  an  old  Frenchman  singing  a  song 


about  the  wind  in  the  springtime.     It  ran  like 
this : 

"Le  vent  que  traverse  la  montagne 
M'a  rendu  fou!" 

(The  wind  which  crosses  the  mountain 
Has  driven  me  mad!) 

Each  member  of  our  little  party  realized  that 
Captain  Lind  could  not  have  been  himself  at  the 
moment  of  our  disaster.  The  winter  had  been 
very  severe  and  I  have  frequently  wondered 
whether  the  sight  of  the  Bay  which  for  so  long 
had  been  solid  ice  and  had  then  so  quickly  melted 
into  beautiful,  sparkling,  moving  water, — just  as 
a  lovely  woman  sometimes  gives  way  suddenly  to 
tears, — had  not  been  the  strongest  element  in  his 
sudden  mental  undoing. 

Civilization  follows  the  flag  wherever  it  goes. 
Army  men  are  splendid  the  world  over,  a  fact  for- 
merly realized  by  the  few  but  which  is  now  being 
driven  home  to  the  many  by  the  great  war.  And 
the  Army  women — — .  They  are  such  "good  fel- 
lows!" They,  too,  go  with  the  flag  to  make  a 
home  for  their  soldier  husbands.  And  they  care 
not  a  whit  whether  they  follow  them  into  the 
sands  of  the  desert  or  over  the  Arctic  snows ! 

I  can  not  leave  the  story  of  St.  Michael  with- 
out reference  to  Gene  Doyle,  the  oldest  mail  car- 


SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  ALASKA      209 

rier  in  our  part  of  the  country.  Have  you  ever 
thought  what  it  means  to  be  a  mail  carrier  in 
Alaska?  These  men  are  the  real  heroes  of  the 
trails.  Over  in  the  Canadian  Yukon  they  toler- 
ate no  such  inhumane  treatment  of  men.  There 
no  man  may  take  out  a  horse  or  a  dog  if  the  mer- 
cury registers  lower  than  forty-five  below  zero 
unless  it  is  a  case  of  life  or  death  and  even  then 
one  must  get  permission  from  the  Northwest 
Mounted  Police.  But  the  American  mail  man 
must  go, — or  lose  his  job!  Many  a  time  has 
Doyle  set  forth  with  the  temperature  at  sixty 
below,  and  you  may  rest  assured  that  if  he  did 
not  show  up  on  schedule  time  we  made  ready  our 
sleds  and  went  out  to  meet  him!  There  is  no 
resident  of  Alaska  who  is  not  in  sympathy  with 
the  Rev.  Hudson  Stuck  who  has  more  than  once 
expressed  an  ardent  longing  to  serve  as  Postmas- 
ter General  for  just  one  week  I 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  PRIZE  OF  THE  PACIFIC 

ASIDE  from  our  interests  which  are  now 
bound  up  in  the  great  war  there  is  no 
problem  confronting  the  United  States  which  is 
so  vital  as  that  of  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  Coast. 
Separated  as  she  is  from  the  motherland  by  a  for- 
eign country,  the  shipping  to  and  from  Alaska 
is  the  most  important  thing  to  be  considered. 
True,  two  of  her  river  systems  furnish  five  thou- 
sand miles  of  navigable  water,  but  in  winter  they 
are  choked  with  ice  and  the  country  is  as  yet  pain- 
fully short  on  railroads!  The  Pacific  Ocean  is 
the  great  problem  of  the  American  people  to-day 
and  Alaska  is  the  prize  beyond  compute  of  the 
Pacific  Coast. 

It  is  high  time  that  the  American  people  and 
the  United  States  Government  as  well  rubbed 
their  eyes  and  awakened  to  a  fact  long  known 
to  the  few  of  us  who  have  been  on  guard.  The 
cards  were  shuffled  some  time  ago  and  are  just 
lying,  waiting  to  be  dealt  in  the  greatest  game 

that  has  ever  been  played!    Before  the  war  we 

210 


THE  PRIZE  OF  THE  PACIFIC    211 

used  to  hear  much  talk  about  the  "control  of  the 
seas."  How  many  of  us  realized  what  that  ex- 
pression meant?  The  war  has  opened  our  eyes. 
Who  is  it  that  has  the  shuffled  cards  lying  ready? 
Who  is  it  that  wants  the  Pacific  ?  The  answer  is 
ready  and  instant.  Japan! 

Every  school  boy  knows  that  the  United  States 
owns  the  Aleutian  Islands.  He  knows  also  that 
they  stretch  all  the  way  across  to  Asia  and  sep- 
arate Bering  Sea  from  the  Pacific.  In  this  group 
of  Islands  is  one  which  has  an  ice-free  front.  It 
is  called  Dutch  Harbor.  It  would  prove  an  ex- 
cellent base,  if  properly  fortified,  in  the  control 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Out  of  our  hands  Dutch 
Harbor  would  be  just  as  effective  a  barrier 
against  us  as  Gibraltar  now  is  against  Spain  I  In 
time  of  war  a  naval  enemy  would  have  a  good 
chance  of  beating  us  to  Dutch  Harbor  and  ac- 
complishing what  we,  with  a  lack  of  foresight 
have  failed  to  do, — bar  the  way  to  Alaska  to  us 
forever  after. 

Why  the  seriousness  of  this  has  not  been  real- 
ized by  the  government  is  inexplainable.  Alaska 
is  our  most  valuable  possession.  It  is  not  mere 
womanish  fear  which  forces  us  to  recognize  that 
we  are  in  danger  of  losing  her.  There  can  be  no 
question  that  in  the  event  of  a  struggle  for  the 
possession  of  the  Pacific  the  fate  of  Alaska  will 


212    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

be  exactly  that  which  befell  Korea  in  the  Man- 
churian  war  of  a  decade  or  two  ago.  Nor  is  this 
all.  Who  can  sit  still  at  this  very  moment  and 
see  the  Japs  pushing  eastward  through  Siberia 
without  apprehension? 

A  hostile  fleet  in  Dutch  Harbor  and  Alaska 
will  fall  of  her  own  weight!  The  distance  to 
Dutch  Harbor  is  just  the  same  from  Yokohama 
as  it  is  from  San  Francisco !  Dutch  Harbor  is  to 
us  what  Gibraltar  was  to  Spain  in  the  days  of  the 
Armada.  Shall  we,  like  Spain,  fail  to  realize  her 
value  until  too  late?  If  so,  our  experience  can 
not  be  other  than  that  which  befell  her.  The  tre- 
mendous significance  of  our  failure  to  make 
Dutch  Harbor  impregnable  and  impassable  will 
one  day  stun  us.  But  the  great  war  has  forced 
us  into  doing  what  long  ago  we  should  have  done 
without  being  forced.  We  are  feverishly  building 
ships.  If  WTC  get  our  great  fleet  in  order,  and  if 
we  do  it  first.,  then  it  may  be  that  the  shuffled  cards 
may  never  be  dealt.  There  may  be  no  game. 
There  are  those  who  never  play  unless  they  see 
the  way  open  to  win ! 

We  have  another  strategic  point  also.  This  is 
Rugged  Island,  lying  in  Resurrection  Bay.  This 
Bay  was  so  named  by  the  Russians  who  discov- 
ered it  on  the  anniversary  of  Our  Lord's  Resur- 
rection. Rugged  Island  is  an  easy  point  of  at- 


THE  PRIZE  OF  THE  PACIFIC    213 

tack  and  the  government  has  recently  appro- 
priated seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  for- 
tify it. 

No  comedy  of  ^Eschylus  ever  equaled  a  prop- 
osition put  forth  in  Congress  not  long  ago  by  the 
Hon.  Frank  O.  Smith  of  Maryland.  Under  the 
astounding  and  absurd  title  of  Eugenic  Peace  he 
proposed  that  in  the  interest  of  world  peace  the 
United  States  should  cede  to  Canada  the  southern 
part  of  Alaska,  known  as  the  Panhandle!  This 
section  shuts  off  a  large  region  of  Canada  from 
the  sea. 

Strangely  enough,  the  proposition  secured  the 
support  of  a  number  of  eminent  men  (not  one  of 
whom,  however,  had  ever  been  to  Alaska)  but  to 
one  who  lives  here  it  is  the  limit  and  pinnacle  of 
absurdity.  First  of  all,  the  business  affairs  of 
the  people  living  here  are  conducted  almost 
wholly  with  Seattle  and  San  Francisco.  Would 
they  consent  to  such  a  change?  Never!  Their 
business  would  be  paralyzed  if  turned  over  to 
Canada,  thereby  necessitating  the  payment  of  a 
tariff  on  their  exports.  Just  think  what  such  a 
proposition  would  entail.  Fully  one-third  of  the 
salmon  fisheries  of  the  world  are  in  the  Pan- 
handle! One  of  the  largest  gold  mines  in  the 
world  (the  Treadwell,  on  Douglas  Island)  is 
located  here.  Great  forests  of  timber  (to  cut 


214    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

which  has  been  forbidden  by  the  government) 
cover  a  large  part  of  the  area  in  question.  Here, 
also,  are  Juneau,  the  capital  of  Alaska;  Sitka,  the 
ancient  Russian  capital;  Ketchikan,  Wrangell, 
and  many  other  fishing  and  trading  towns  con- 
taining more  than  half  the  permanent  population 
of  the  whole  of  Alaska!  Why  not  present  Can- 
ada with  the  northern  peninsula  of  Michigan,  or 
the  tip  of  the  State  of  Washington? 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Canada  would  be  glad 
to  arrange  things  so  that  her  traffic  with  the 
Yukon  might  be  carried  on  without  the  payment 
of  tariff  duties.  Well,  there  is  a  remedy,  but  it 
does  not  lie  in  the  transfer  of  territory.  It  lies 
in  reciprocity  of  trade, — if  not  reciprocity,  then 
free  trade  to  and  from  the  Yukon  and  Skagway, 
its  natural  seaport.  But  the  idea  of  ceding  the 
whole  country  in  order  to  accommodate  the  resi- 
dents in  the  much  less  important  part  of  the 
Yukon  is  a  proposition  about  which  it  is  difficult 
to  be  serious!  What  a  joke  the  United  States 
would  be  playing  upon  herself! 

For  a  long  time  after  the  historic  days  of 
"Fifty-four  forty  or  fight"  there  was  much  ar- 
gument over  the  boundary  of  Alaska.  It  cul- 
minated in  1898,  however,  in  the  decision  of  the 
Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England,  Lord  Alverstane, 
that  the  contention  of  the  American  members  of 


THE  PRIZE  OF  THE  PACIFIC    215 

IHe  Commission  (Elihu  Root,  Henry  Cabot 
Lodge  and  Ex- Senator  Turner)  was  correct  and 
should  be  sustained.  This  decision  gave  to  the 
United  States  complete  control  of  the  seacoast 
and  all  the  bays  and  channels  opening  into  it. 
And  it  is  a  control  it  behooves  us  to  keep !  But 
the  greatest  need  of  Alaska  to-day  is  a  railroad 
running  into  the  country  by  means  of  which 
troops  could  be  sent  from  the  United  States. 
This  road  would  have  to  run  through  Canada, 
and  here  again  is  a  problem  for  the  statesmen 
of  our  country  to  ponder  over  and  solved 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

ALASKA  AND  THE  WAR 

A  WIRELESS  message  flashed  the  news  to 
•IX  Alaska  that  our  country  had  entered  the 
war.  The  effect  was  the  usual  one, — the  one  to 
which  we  in  Alaska  have  become  accustomed.  It 
aroused  a  patriotism  which  was  both  ideal  and 
practical.  It  is  said  that  the  man  who  went  far- 
thest to  serve  his  colors  was  a  man  from  Iditarod. 
A  man  with  his  dog  team  drove  by  his  dwelling 
and  told  him  the  news.  Like  Israel  Putnam  of 
Revolutionary  fame  who  left  his  team  standing 
in  the  field  where  he  was  ploughing  and  went  to 
join  the  Minute  Men,  so  this  man  laid  aside  his 
work  and  journeyed  a  thousand  miles  on  a  dog 
sled  to  enlist ! 

Every  line  of  industrial,  engineering,  mining, 
agricultural  and  fishing  activity  immediately  was 
speeded  to  the  top  notch  of  energy  and  produc- 
tion. The  coal  output  increased  from  fifty  thou- 
sand to  a  hundred  thousand  tons.  Fish  food 
products  jumped  from  twenty  to  forty- two  mil- 
lion dollars.  There  was  an  increase  of  twenty- 

216 


ALASKA  AND  THE  WAR       217 

two  million  pounds  of  canned  salmon  shipped  to 
the  United  States  over  the  output  of  1917. 

The  people  of  Alaska  are  hardy.  They  are 
patriotic.  They  are  energetic  and  practical. 
They  understand  fully  what  war  means.  They 
know  that  although  far  removed  from  the  scene 
of  activity  they  are  called  upon  to  help  win  the 
war  just  as  much  as  if  they  were  fighting  in  the 
trenches.  They  know  that  the  greatest  good  they 
can  do  their  country  is  to  feed  her  fighting  men. 
So  they  went  about  it  in  a  business-like  manner. 
The  result  is  that  theirs  is  a  practical,  organized 
patriotic  cooperation.  Many  of  the  pioneer  gold 
seekers  are  now  transformed  into  farmers.  The 
potato  crop  for  this  year  is  two  thousand  tons, — 
only  one  item,  but  a  significant  one. 

The  Alaskan  women,  as  always,  came  straight 
to  the  front.  With  that  practical  knowledge  born 
of  residence  in  such  a  country  as  Alaska  they 
eliminated  the  sentimental  and  went  to  work  at 
those  things  which  America  asks  and  expects  of 
her  women.  Mrs.  Thomas  J.  Donahoe,  of  Val- 
dez,  who  is  also  President  of  the  Federation  of 
Women's  Clubs,  was  appointed  Chairman  of  the 
Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of  National 
Defense,  and  the  Red  Cross  is  represented  and 
practically  managed  in  almost  every  locality  in 
the  territory.  When  the  first  Liberty  Loan  was 


floated  the  response  of  Alaska  was  instant  and 
generous  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  succeeding 
loans. 

In  connection  with  the  part  Alaska  is  playing 
in  the  great  struggle  I  revert  once  more  to  the 
subject  of  the  dogs.  Our  hearts  were  touched 
when  we  learned  that  they,  too,  had  been  awarded 
the  Crws  de  Guerre  by  the  French  Government, 
the  Cross  having  been  sent  to  Mrs.  Esther 
Birdsall  Darling  who  owned  and  sold  many  of 
them  to  France.  "Scotty"  Allen  took  them  over 
and  left  them  there  to  do  their  "bit." 

It  was  a  French  Reserve  Officer,  a  mining  en- 
gineer, Lieutenant  Rene  Haas,  who  first  called 
the  attention  of  the  French  Government  to  the 
services  which  could  be  rendered  by  the  dogs. 
Mrs.  Darling,  good  patriot  that  she  is  and  ever 
ready  to  promote  the  cause  of  the  Allies,  prompt- 
ly offered  the  best  that  the  Darling- Allen  ken- 
nels afforded.  Lieutenant  Haas  was  commis- 
sioned to  select  them.  He  chose  twenty-five  of 
the  youngest,  swiftest  and  best  bred  of  these  ken- 
nels. Then,  supported  enthusiastically  by  Cap- 
tain Moufflet,  who  also  knew  the  possibilities  of 
the  Alaskan  dog  service,  the  interest  of  their 
superior  officers  was  aroused  and  Lieutenant 
Haas  was  ordered  to  go  to  Nome,  there  to  select 
and  purchase  a  hundred  or  more  suitable  for  duty 


ALASKA  AND  THE  WAR       219 

in  the  Vosges.  "Scotty"  Allen  was  persuaded 
to  go  to  France  with  the  dog  contingent  and  the 
number  was  augmented  by  others  from  Canada 
and  Labrador.  When  he  and  Lieutenant  Haas 
sailed  they  had  four  hundred  and  fifty  splendid 
dogs  with  them, — half  a  regiment!  All  were 
successfully  delivered  at  the  front  where  they 
have  rendered  distinguished  and  valuable  ser- 
vice. 

He  would  indeed  be  dead  to  emotion  who  could 
read  the  report  which  came  with  the  Croix  de 
Guerre  and  which  was  sent  from  headquarters 
on  the  French  frontier  to  far-away  Alaska.  We 
all  knew  that  the  dogs  would  meet  emergencies 
boldly,  no  matter  what  the  circumstances,  the 
conditions  or  the  weather.  One  specific  incident 
which  will  be  a  part  of  Alaska's  written  history 
when  the  war  is  over  serves  to  emphasize  and  jus- 
tify our  faith  in  them. 

From  a  lonely  post  out  on  the  frontier  in  the 
French  Alps  came  to  headquarters  a  most  urgent 
call  for  help.  They  were  out  of  ammunition  and 
the  situation  was  most  critical.  True  to  their 
reputation  for  valor  the  French  were  holding  the 
post,  fighting  against  heavy  odds,  each  man  say- 
ing in  his  heart  the  little  sentence  which  has  be- 
come the  slogan  of  the  French  army  and  the 
prayer  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  France, 


220    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

—"They  shall  not  pass!"  To  hold  the  post 
longer,  however,  meant  that  ammunition  must  be 
forthcoming  at  once.  A  terrific  blizzard  was  in 
progress.  The  trails  were  dangerous,  almost 
obliterated  in  places.  Trucks  and  horses  were  of 
no  avail.  But  there  were  the  dogs, — Alaska's 
heroes.  To  them  France  turned  in  her  emer- 
gency. The  sleds  were  quickly  loaded.  The 
Malamuts  fell  to  harness  instantly  on  command. 
Lieutenant  Haas  was  ready  for  his  perilous  jour- 
ney. A  crack  of  the  whip,  an  encouraging  shout 
to  the  dogs  and  they  were  off.  For  four  days 
and  four  nights  they  kept  their  steady  gait.  Up 
and  down  precipitous  mountain-sides,  over 
treacherous  trails  and  across  the  snow-buried  ex- 
panse, most  of  the  time  under  shell  fire  from  the 
enemy,  they  went  quietly,  steadily  on.  Lieu- 
tenant Haas  acknowledged  that  the  dogs  seemed 
to  realize  quite  as  clearly  as  he  did  himself  the 
necessity  of  haste  and  a  cool  head,  that  they  had 
in  their  eyes  the  "do-or-die"  look  which  he  had  so 
often  seen  in  the  eyes  of  his  men.  And  every 
one  who  knows  anything  about  them  knows  how 
much  victory  means  to  a  Malamut. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day,  just  at  dawn, 
they  reached  the  post, — one  more  instance  of  a 
dramatic  arrival  in  the  nick  of  time.  The  am- 
munition was  now  completely  exhausted.  One 


ALASKA  AND  THE  WAR       221 

needs  not  a  vivid  imagination  to  hear  in  fancy  the 
ringing  cheers  which  greeted  them.  A  pro- 
nounced trait  of  the  Alaskan  dog  is  glory  in  vic- 
tory, mourning  in  defeat.  This  has  been  ob- 
served many  times  in  the  races, — the  downcast, 
dejected  air  of  the  dogs  that  fail,  the  brisk  and 
happy  attitude  of  those  that  win.  So  in  this  in- 
stance, the  cheers  and  the  Cross  were  but  episodes. 
The  victory  was  the  thing! 

The  French  Government  acknowledges  that 
the  dogs  are  quite  as  valuable  as  any  other  branch 
of  the  service  and  those  that  made  this  hard  and 
perilous  trip  are  to  be  painted  and  hung  in  the 
War  Museum  in  Paris. 

Mrs.  Darling  and  "Scotty"  are  and  have  every 
reason  to  be  proud  of  their  dogs.  In  the  din  of 
battle  and  the  precariousness  of  life  on  the  fron- 
tier they  doubtless  miss  their  owners'  kindness 
and  attention.  But  the  sympathies  of  the  latter 
go  with  them  wherever  they  go.  Lieutenant 
Haas  declares  that  these  dogs  have  a  "college 
education"  and  can  be  trusted  to  do  their  work 
intelligently  and  fearlessly.  When  the  time 
comes  for  the  history  of  the  Great  World  War 
to  be  written,  may  the  deeds  of  the  dogs  of  Nome 
who  played  no  less  courageous  and  conspicuous 
a  part  than  did  her  men  be  fittingly  inscribed 
therein ! 


CHAPTER  XIX 

ALASKAN  WRITERS 

IN  addition  to  her  gold  and  copper,  her  furs 
and  her  fish,  Alaska  has  produced  a  crop  of 
writers  of  more  or  less  importance.  By  far  the 
truest  exponent  of  the  life  of  the  country  is  Rob- 
ert Service  whose  The  Spell  of  the  Yukon 
surely  breathes  the  spirit  of  the  land.  Service 
is  now  an  army  surgeon  in  the  European  war  and 
his  latest  volume  Rhymes  of  a  Red  Cross  Man 
has  added  to  the  reputation  he  justly  enjoys  be- 
cause of  the  verse  which  went  before  it.  This 
little  volume  is  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  his 
brother,  Lieutenant  Albert  Service,  killed  in  ac- 
tion, and  the  Foreword  with  which  the  collection 
opens  is  well  worth  quoting: 

"I've  tinkered  at  my  bits  of  rhymes 
In  weary,  woeful,  waiting  times; 
In  doleful  hours  of  battle  din 
Ere  yet  they  brought  the  wounded  in ! 
Through  vigils  by  the  fateful  night, 
In  lousy  barns  by  candle  light; 
In  dug-outs,  sagging  and  aflood, 
On  stretchers  stiff  and  bleared  with  blood; 
222 


ALASKAN  WRITERS  223 

By  ragged  grove,  by  ruined  road, 
By  hearths  accurst  where  Love  abode; 
By  broken  altars,  blackened  shrines — 
I've  tinkered  at  my  bits  of  rhymes! 

"I've  solaced  me  with  scraps  of  song 
The  desolated  ways  along; 
Through  sickly  fields  all  shrapnel-sown 
And  meadows  reaped  by  death  alone; 
By  blazing  cross  and  splintered  spire, 
By  headless  Virgin  in  the  mire; 
By  gardens  gashed  amid  their  bloom, 
By  gutted  grave,  by  shattered  tomb; 
Beside  the  dying  and  the  dead, 
Where  rockets  green  and  rockets  red 
In  trembling  pools  of  poising  light, 
With  flowers  of  flame  festoon  the  night. 
Ah  me !  By  what  dark  ways  of  wrong 
I've  cheered  my  heart  with  scraps  of  song! 

"So  here's  my  sheaf  of  war-won  verse, 
And  some  is  bad,  and  some  is  worse. 
And  if  at  times  I  curse  a  bit, 
You  needn't  read  that  part  of  it! 
For  through  it  all,  like  horror,  runs 
The  red  resentment  of  the  guns! 
And  you  yourself  would  mutter  when 
You  took  the  things  that  once  were  men 
And  sped  them  through  that  zone  of  hate 
To  where  the  dripping  surgeons  wait! 
You'd  wonder,  too,  if,  in  God's  sight, 
War  ever,  ever  can  be  right!" 

Service  is  essentially  a  poet.    His  novel,  The 
Trail  of  Ninety-eight,  well, — we  have  forgiven 


224    THE  OCND  OF  TOMORROW 

him!  It  is  lurid  melodrama  and  certainly  adds 
nothing  to  his  literary  reputation.  But  none  can 
read  The  Spell  of  the  Yukon  without  breathing 
deeply ! 

"There's  a  land  where  the  mountains  are  nameless 
And  the  rivers  all  run  God  knows  where ! 
There  are  lives  that  are  erring  and  aimless 
And  deaths  that  just  hang  by  a  hair! 
There  are  hardships  that  nobody  reckons, 
There  are  valleys  unpeopled  and  still! 
There's  a  land — oh,  it  beckons  and  beckons ! 
I  want  to  go  back — and  I  will!" 

I  have  already  said  that  the  true  story  of  the 
Klondike  stampede  has  never  been  written  and 
perhaps  never  will  be.  A  great  deal  was  put  out 
under  the  guise  of  literature,  but  it  was  mere 
journalistic  stuff.  It  will  not  endure  and  should 
not.  Jack  London  was  in  Klondike.  And  he 
was  a  born  story-teller.  He  should  have  written 
something  quite  worth  while  of  those  stirring  days 
with  all  the  wealth  of  material  which  lay  about 
him.  But  the  best  he  did  was  TJie  Call  of  the 
Wild  and  in  it  he  indulged  his  love  for  the  ro- 
mantic to  such  an  extent  that  you  find  yourself 
wondering  whether  dogs  are  real  dogs  and  his 
men  real  men  until  in  the  end  you  conclude  that 
they  are  not !  His  white  men  are  like  characters 
on  the  stage.  And  if  there  are  any  Indians  in 


BEV.   HUDSON  STUCK,  ARCHDEACON  OF  THE  YUKON*, 
PREACHING  WITH  INDIAN   AND  ESKIMO  INTERPRETERS 


INTERIOR    OF   GREEK   CATHOLIC   CHURCH    IN    ST.    MICHAEL 
BUILT   IN    1837 


FINE   OLD    NATIONAL   HOUSE    WITH   TOTEM  POLES 
NEAR    WRANGELL 


ALASKAN  WRITERS  225 

Alaska  such  as  he  portrayed  I  have  never  encoun- 
tered them.  They  are  absurdly  untrue  to  life. 
Furthermore,  the  brutal  side  of  life  seems  to  have 
had  undue  attraction  for  London.  It  is  true  that 
it  did  exist.  But  it  was  not  the  whole  of  life  in 
Alaska,  by  any  means,  and  one  sickens  of  it  after 
continuous  reading  about  it.  Rex  Beach's  stories, 
The  Spoilers  and  The  Silver  Horde  (by  far  his 
best,  in  my  judgment),  are  good  and  typical  of 
the  life  of  the  period.  Yet  one  can  not  read 
them  without  a  feeling  that  they,  too,  leave  much 
to  be  desired. 

The  wit,  the  pathos,  the  comedies,  the  tragedies, 
the  sordidness,  the  heroism  of  those  days !  Whose 
pen  could  delineate  the  characters  of  those  who 
wrought  them  or  adequately  describe  the  coun- 
try as  it  was, — and  is!  It  would  take  the  com- 
bined genius  of  a  Poe,  a  Kipling  and  a  Bret 
Harte  to  do  justice  to  the  subject.  Richard 
Harding  Davis  was  preparing  to  go  to  Klon- 
dike. Had  he  carried  out  his  intention  it  might 
have  been  different.  But  one  morning  he  picked 
up  the  morning  paper  and  read  therein  that  the 
Maine  had  been  blown  up  in  Havana  harbor. 
He  changed  his  mind ! 

I  am  convinced  that  the  best  tales  of  the  land 
have  never  been  put  on  paper.  These  are  the 
stories  related  at  the  road-houses,  or  in  the  rooms 


226 

of  the  Arctic  Brotherhood  or  some  similar  gath- 
ering-place by  those  who  took  part  in  them.  And 
they  usually  come  out  quite  by  accident.  The 
participant  thinks  there  is  nothing  wonderful 
about  them.  Some  grizzled  miner, — Service  calls 
them  "the  silent  men  who  do  things," — will  sud- 
denly begin  talking,  and  sometimes  the  story  he 
tells  will  beat  any  that  has  ever  yet  found  its  way 
into  print.  Why  has  no  one  ever  written  a  steam- 
boat story?  Or  a  tale  of  the  Arctic  Brother- 
hood ?  There  are  material  and  local  color  galore 
for  such. 

Nearly  all  Alaskans  are  familiar  with  the  writ- 
ings of  Samuel  Clarke  Dunham.  He  has  occa- 
sionally burst  into  verse,  and  he  has  a  dry  humor 
which  is  exhilarating.  I  have  already  quoted 
from  one  of  his  best  known  effusions  concerning 
the  tundra.  Tracking  about  in  the  wet  Russian 
moss  is  often  calculated  to  extract  (not  pain- 
lessly) about  ninety  per  cent  of  one's  enthusiasm! 
So  one  day  Dunham  broke  forth  in  a  poem  which 
began  thus : 

"I've  traversed  the  toe-twisting  tundra 
Where  reindeer  root  round  for  their  feed!"  etc. 

Would  that  there  were  some  way  of  gathering 
together  the  fugitive  stories  and  poems,  replete 
with  wit  and  humor,  with  pathos  and  tragedy, 
are  a  part  of  Alaska's  unwritten  history! 


ALASKAN  WRITERS  227 

Many  a  time  have  I  been  guilty  of  hanging 
around  a  road-house,  saloon  or  "joint"  of  some 
kind  for  no  reason  on  earth  except  that  I  knew 
I  should  hear  a  good  story  or  two  from  some  wan- 
dering wayfarer  who  had  just  come  in  off  the 
trail.  And  at  such  times  I  have  often  recalled 
the  familiar  song  (peculiarly  true  to  life  in 
Alaska)  'the  chorus  of  which  runs: 

"Sometimes  you're  glad, 

Sometimes  you're  sad, 

When  you  play  in  the  game  of  life!" 

I  have  heard  in  these  miners'  gatherings  tales 
of  tragedies  almost  unbelievable,  comedies  which 
would  furnish  excellent  vehicles  for  the  talents  of 
Charlie  Chaplin  and  not  a  few  love  stories  worthy 
of  a  Dickens,  a  Hugo  or  a  Tolstoi.  But  they 
were  no  sooner  told  than  forgotten  as  no  one  was 
at  hand  to  record  them. 

I  well  recall  an  evening  when  I  joined  a  group 
who  sat  smoking  beside  a  stove  in  one  of  the 
road-houses.  There  was  conversation,  but  one 
usually  loquacious  individual  sat  silently  and 
smoked  his  pipe.  Whenever  he  had  appeared 
there  before  he  had  always  been  accompanied  by 
an  older  man.  They  seemed  inseparable  com- 
panions. I  had  a  feeling  that  something  tragic 
had  happened  and  that  he  would  relate  it  before 
the  evening  was  over.  So  I  decided  to  "stick 


228    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

around."  Presently  some  one  asked  him  where 
his  partner  was.  He  did  not  reply  immediately, 
but  presently  took  his  pipe  from  between  his  teeth 
and  speaking  in  the  vernacular  of  the  country 
said: 

"He  won't  be  here  no  more." 

"You  mean ?" 

"Yep." 

We  were  all  interested  immediately  but  fore- 
bore  to  ask  questions.  Presently  he  went  on. 

"We  were  just  comin'  along  the  trail.  His 
foot  slipped  an'  down  he  went  into  the  crevasse. 
I  hollered  down,  an'  I  heerd  him  answer.  So  I 
climbed  down  as  far  as  I  could,  an'  I  could  see 
him,  an'  talk  to  him.  His  face  was  jammed  right 
in  the  ice  an'  was  already  freezin'.  We  couldn't 
do  nothin'  but  just  look  at  each  other.  Then  he 
says,  'You  might  as  well  go  on!'  An'  I  says, 
'I'm  damned  ef  I  do!'  I  untied  the  packs  an* 
got  all  the  rope  we  had,  but  it  wouldn't  reach  him. 
'I'll  go  git  some  more  rope,'  I  says  to  him,  but  I 
knowed  it'd  be  too  late.  'Go  on!' he  says.  'Don't 
let  the  dark  git  you  out  here.  You  can't  do 
nothin'  fer  me!  I  knowed  he  was  right.  But  I 
hated  like  hell  to  leave  him.  I'd  'a  stayed  ef  it'd 
done  any  good.  But  it  wouldn't.  To-day  I  got 

some  more  rope  an'  went  back.  But The 

ice  down  where  he  was  had  opened  again  an'  I 


ALASKAN  WRITERS  229 

could  see  straight  down  fer  two  hundred  feet. 
He  wuzn't  there!" 

Nobody  said  anything.  He  took  a  few  more 
puff s  from  his  pipe.  Then  he  got  up  and  went 
out. 

I  have  more  than  once  mentioned  the  Reverend 
Hudson  Stuck,  Archdeacon  of  the  Yukon,  au- 
thor, missionary  and  first  white  man  to  ascend  Mt. 
McKinley.  The  Archdeacon  is  known  and  loved 
by  all  who  know  him,  not  only  for  his  services 
but  because  of  his  personality  and  his  adaptabil- 
ity to  the  needs  and  conditions  of  the  land  in 
which  he  lives.  His  books,  The  Ascent  of  Denali, 
Ten  Thousand  Miles  with  a  Dog  Sled  and  Voy- 
ages on  the  Yukon,  are  excellent  reading,  good 
examples  of  Alaskan  literature  and  history.  The 
Archdeacon  has  a  sense  of  humor  which  makes 
friends  for  him  wherever  he  goes,  and  one  eve- 
ning Gene  Doyle,  the  oldest  mail-carrier  in  our 
part  of  Alaska,  a  hardened  traveler  of  the  trails, 
blew  in  with  a  good  story.  Gene  was  a  sour- 
dough of  the  most  pronounced  type.  He  had 
wintered  many  times  in  Alaska. 

When  two  people  meet  on  the  trails  each  is 
warned  of  the  other's  approach  by  the  actions  of 
the  dogs.  First  the  leader  and  then  the  rest  of 
the  team  will  begin  to  bristle  and  cut  antics  of 
various  kinds.  The  usual  salutation  in  Alaska 


230    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

is  not  "How  are  you?"  or  "Hello!"  as  might  be 
the  case  elsewhere.  Instead  we  call  out:  "How 
are  the  trails  ahead?"  On  this  occasion  Doyle 
knew  by  the  actions  of  his  dogs  that  he  was 
about  to  meet  another  team.  There  was  a  storm 
in  progress  and  neither  man  could  see  the  driver 
of  the  other  team.  Doyle  had  had  a  particularly 
difficult  day's  trip  and  was  a  bit  out  of  temper 
when  the  driver  of  the  other  team  thus  accosted 
him: 

"Friend,  how  are  the  trails  ahead  ?" 

"They  are  the  G d dest,  blank,  blank, 

blankety-blankedest  I've  ever  seen  in  Alaska!" 
Doyle  replied.  "How  are  they  your  way?" 

"The  same!"  was  the  somewhat  emphatic  re- 
sponse of  the  gentleman.  It  was  the  Arch- 
deacon ! 

As  I  have  already  said,  weather  which  in  lower 
latitudes  would  promptly  convert  one  into  an 
icicle  has  little  eif  ect  upon  one  who  understands 
how  to  prepare  for  it.  With  hands  and  feet 
warmly  protected,  with  winter  underwear  and 
wind-proof  outer  clothes  one  can  comfortably  and 
successfully  "weather  the  weather!"  It  is  no  un- 
common experience,  however,  to  meet  a  man  on 
the  trail  who  sings  out  to  you: 

"I  say,  old  fellow, — your  nose  is  frozen!" 
"Thanks!"  you  respond.    "So  is  yours  1" 


ALASKAN  WRITERS  231 

Each  will  then  blissfully  apply  a  little  snow  to 
the  disabled  member  and  proceed  on  his  way.  But 
there  is  one  other  thing  which  should  be  rigor- 
ously guarded  against  as  it  is  a  painful  and  dis- 
tressing experience.  This  is  snow-blindness. 
The  glare  on  the  snow  causes  the  film  of  the 
eye  to  become  a  water  blister,  which  takes  three 
or  four  days  to  heal.  One  of  my  most  poignant 
recollections  is  a  three  days'  siege  of  snow-blind- 
ness, during  which  I  lay  helpless  in  a  hut  while  an 
old  squaw  put  wet  tea  leaves  on  my  eyes.  Never 
again! 

I  have  heard  that  from  the  fighting  men  of  the 
allied  armies  now  in  Europe  have  come  back 
some  exquisite  verse, — such  verse  as  one  could 
not  reasonably  expect  from  men  of  their  youth 
and  previous  environment.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  much  of  the  verse  of  Alaska.  The  poems 
of  Service  and  Dunham  are  well  known.  But 
alas,  the  bulk  of  the  others  never  saw  the  light  of 
day  in  print! 

As  has  been  said,  however,  Alaska  is  a  land 
of  contrasts.  Not  every  one  gets  the  same  im- 
pression of  the  same  thing!  To  prove  it  I  quote 
a  poem  written  by  one  of  the  many  who  did  not 
find  in  Alaska  just  what  they  came  to  seek.  The 
writer  of  the  verses  below  was  the  steward  on  the 
Susies — one  of  the  boats  which  plied  the  Yukon 


232    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

during  the  gold  rush.  Evidently  his  claim  proved 
worthless,  or  something  else  went  wrong.  For  he 
has  thus  expressed  himself: 

AN  IMPRESSION  OF  ALASKA 

The  Devil  in  hell,  we  are  told,  was  chained. 
Thousands   of  years  he  thus  remained, 
But  he  did  not  complain  nor  did  he  groan. 
He  decided  to  have  a  hell  of  his  own 
Where  he  could  torment  the  souls  of  men 
Without  being  chained  in  a  sulphur  pen ! 
So  he  asked  the  Lord  if  He  had  any  land 
In  a  clime  cool  enough  for  a  Devil  to  stand. 
The  Lord  said:  "Yes — but  it's  not  much  use. 
It's  called  Alaska.     It's  cold  as  the  deuce. 
In  fact,  old  boy,  the  place  is  so  bare 
I  fear  you  could  not  make  a  good  hell  there !" 

But  the  Devil  said  he  could  not  see  why; 

He  knew  his  business.     He'd  like  to  try. 

So  the  bargain  was  made,  the  deed  was  given, 

And  the  Devil  took  his  departure  from  heaven. 

He  next  appeared  in  the  far,  far  North, 

Exploring  Alaska  to  learn  its  worth; 

And  he  said  from  McKinley  as  he  looked  at  the 

truck, 
"I  got  it  for  nothing, — but  still  I'm  stuck!" 

But,  oh, — it  was  fine  to  be  out  in  the  cold ! 
The  wind  blew  a  gale,  but  the  Devil  grew  bold, 
And  thus  on  the  mountain  height  he  planned: 
"I'll  make  of  Alaska  the  home  of  the  damned! 
A  different  place  from  the  old-fashioned  hell, 
Where  each  soul  burns  in  a  brimstone  cell. 


ALASKAN  WRITERS  233 

I'll  use  every  means  a  wise  Devil  need 

To  make  a  good  hell.    You  bet  I'll  succeed!" 

First  he  filled  the  air  with  millions  of  gnats. 
Then  he  spread  the  Yukon  all  over  the  Flats, 
Set  a  line  of  volcanos  from  Unimak  Pass, 
And  covered  the  soil  with  tundra  grass. 
He  made  six  months'  night — when  'twas  sixty 

below, 

A  howling  wind  and  a  pelting  snow! 
And  six  months'  day — with  a  spell  now  and  then 
Too  hot  for  the  Devil  and  all  of  his  men ! 
Brought  hungry  wolves  and  dogs  by  the  pack 
Whose  yells  send  chills  right  down  your  back, 
And  as  you  "mush"  o'er  the  bleak  expanse 
The  North  Wind  blows  holes  in  your  pants! 

But  of  all  the  pests  the  imp  could  devise 
The  Yukon  mosquitoes  bear  off  the  prize. 
They've  a  rattler's  bite,  a  scorpion's  sting, 
And  they  measure  six  inches  from  wing  to  wing! 
The  Devil  said  when  he  fashioned  these: 
"One  of  'em  is  worse  than  a  thousand  fleas!" 

Then,  over  the  mountain  and  rolling  plain 

Where  the  dew  falls  soft  and  there's  plenty  of  rain 

He  grew  flowers  and  berries.     'Twas  just  a  bluff! 

The  Devil  knows  how  to  peddle  his  stuff! 

And  to  prove  how  well  he  knew  the  game 

He  next  proceeded  to  salt  his  claim. 

He  put  gold  nuggets  in  all  the  streams 

To  lure  men  on  in  dreams !     In  dreams ! 

He  hid  them  deep  in  the  glacial  ice, 

As  a  glittering  city  hides  its  vice ! 

Then  he  bade  Dame  Rumor  spread  the  news 

Throughout  all  the  world  to  its  motley  crews 


That  there  was  gold  in  piles  and  piles, 

Of  every  color  and  in  all  styles! 

Then  he   grinned   a   grim,   sardonic   grin, 

And  said :  "Now  watch  the  fools  rush  in ! 

They'll  fight  for  gold.     They'll  steal  and  slay ! 

But  in  the  end  I'm  the  one  they'll  pay!" 

'Tis  a  fine  hell  this  that  the  Devil  owns ! 
Its  trails  are  marked  with  frozen  bones; 
The  wild  winds  moan  over  bleak  chaparral; 
'Tis  a  hell  of  a  place  he  chose  for  his  hell! 

And  now  you  know,  should  anyone  ask  you, 
What  kind  of  a  place  is  our  Alaska ! 

I  am  convinced  that  the  Alaskans,  whether 
they  realize  it  or  not,  are  poetic  and  imaginative. 
All  over  the  country  one  finds  the  quaintest  of 
names  that  have  been  bestowed  upon  the  various 
localities  by  some  follower  of  the  trail,  prospec- 
tor, or  other  traveler.  In  one's  journeyings  he 
will  come  upon  settlements  bearing  such  names 
as  Sunset,  Paystreak,  Anchorage  and  Fortymile. 
There  are  also  the  "Isles  of  God's  Mercy"  where 
Henry  Hudson  found  shelter  on  his  last  voyage, 
"Anxiety  Point"  and  "Return  Reef"  of  Sir  John 
Franklin,  that  Sir  Galahad  of  explorers  whose 
Eskimo  name  means  "the  man  who  does  not 
molest  our  women."  In  Bank's  Land  is  "Mercy 
Bay"  and  there  is  also  the  "Thank  God"  harbor 
so  named  by  poor  Hall  on  the  Polaris. 

So,  if  one  could  but  gather  them  together,  the 


ALASKAN  WRITERS  235 

poems  and  songs  and  pretty  names  of  Alaska, 
each  a  part  of  her  real  history,  it  might  make  a 
column  about  three  miles  long,  but — it  would  be 
mighty  interesting  reading! 

One  has  but  to  glance  at  the  map  to  see  the 
similarity  of  the  Alaskan  coast  to  that  of  Nor- 
way. Will  not  the  day  come  when  her  fiords  and 
mountains,  her  Northern  Lights  and  Midnight 
Sun  will  be  as  famed  in  song  and  story  as  those 
of  Norway?  Surely  it  will! 


CONCLUSION 

In  concluding  this  volume  I  am  reminded  of 
two  stories,  both  of  which  seem  applicable  to  the 
subject.  One  of  the  quaintest  and  most  inter- 
esting characters  I  ever  ran  across  was  a  French- 
Canadian,  Captain  of  one  of  the  boats  which  plied 
the  Yukon  during  the  summer  and  in  the  winter 
stayed  at  St.  Michael.  One  day  the  river,  or  the 
boat,  or  both,  behaved  badly.  So  he  sang  out: 

"T'row  over  the  anch'!" 

"But,  Capitaine,"  expostulated  a  sailor,  "ze 
anch'  she  have  no  chain  on  her!" 

The  Captain  glared  at  him  wrathfully. 

"T'row  her  over  any  way!"  he  bawled.  "She 
may  help  some !" 

The  second  story  concerns  this  same  gentle- 
man. When  the  mail  service  was  established  at 
St.  Michael  he  was  told  that  all  he  had  to  do  if 
he  wanted  a  letter  was  to  go  up  to  the  window 
and  ask  for  it.  Never  having  had  a  letter  he 
thought  he  would  like  the  experience.  So  he 
went  and  demanded  one.  The  postmaster  asked 
his  name. 

"Pierre  LeGros,"  he  said. 

236 


CONCLUSION  237 

"How  do  you  spell  it?"  asked  the  man  in- 
side. 

This  was  a  poser.  Pierre's  knowledge  did  not 
extend  to  orthography.  But  he  was  nothing  if 
not  adaptable.  He  eyed  the  man  balefully  for  a 
moment  and  the  expression  on  his  face  was  worth 
a  fortune.  It  changed  slowly  from  interest  to 
scorn.  He  straightened  himself  up  as  proudly 
as  a  king  and  remarked  without  the  slightest 
trace  of  temper: 

"Veil, — eef  you  no  can  spell  Pierre  LeGros 
zen  I  zink  yo'  better  sell  your  damn'  post- 
offeesr 

The  first  of  these  stories  is  illustrative  of  my 
motive  in  writing  this  book.  So  desirous  am  I 
that  all  men  may  know  our  Land  of  Tomor- 
row as  she  really  is  that  I  have  tried  to  set 
forth  her  advantages  and  her  opportunities  which 
lie  on  every  hand  only  waiting  to  be  grasped. 
Therefore  I  hope  she  may  help  some!  Also,  I 
feel  that  wisdom  and  thoughtfulness  on  the  part 
of  our  government  will  be  necessary  in  order  to 
protect  Alaska.  And  she  must  be  protected  be- 
cause she  can  not  yet  protect  herself.  If  we 
can  not  protect  her,  keep  her  safe  from  invasion 
by  a  foreign  enemy,  then  again  I  am  one  with 
Pierre  LeGros.  We  had  better  sell  her ! 

I  am  not  so  pessimistic  as  to  think  that  such  a 


238    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

thing  will  happen,  however.  The  United  States 
seldom  fails  to  do  the  right  thing  at  the  right 
time.  Alaska  is  the  first  country  peopled  by  a 
race  which  has  back  of  it  the  spirit  and  the  tradi- 
tions of  democracy!  It  is  the  last  great  fertile 
and  temperate  land  on  which  western  civilization 
may  take  a  fresh  start.  The  democracy  which 
now  exists  in  Alaska  is  of  the  very  best  brand.  It 
is  that  of  a  country  which,  critical  of  her  own 
mistakes,  is  capable  of  showing  the  world  what 
she  has  learned  from  experience.  The  distilled 
experience  of  America  and  of  the  whole  world  is 
hers  to  draw  upon.  There  is  no  excuse  for  a  re- 
petition of  any  of  the  blunders  the  motherland 
may  have  made  during  the  days  of  her  youth  and 
her  inexperience. 

That  the  government  realizes  all  this  is  evident. 
It  was  made  plain  when  after  a  long  struggle  she 
saved  Alaska's  resources  from  monopoly.  Now 
the  problem  is  to  make  sure  that  whatever  is  done 
in  the  way  of  economical  development,  of  build- 
ing railroads,  town  sites,  schools,  public  build- 
ings, establishing  home  government  and  promot- 
ing industrial  and  agricultural  possibilities,  shall 
be  done  in  the  right  way, — sanely,  harmoniously, 
permanently.  Statesmen  must  be  trained  for  this 
work  and  it  is  a  trust  which  any  statesman  ought 
to  hold  sacred.  To  build  a  new  civilization!  How 


CONCLUSION  239 

splendid  a  task  at  which  to  spend  one's  working 
years !  Alaska  is  America's  opportunity. 

So  long  as  the  United  States  owns  Alaska  (and 
may  it  be  always!)  she  is  wealthy.  She  bought 
fabulous  riches  in  1867  for  two  cents  an  acre! 
With  a  mere  handful  of  adventurous  spirits,  with 
no  railroads  to  speak  of,  Alaska  has  already 
shown  what  she  can  do.  With  good  transporta- 
tion, with  thriving,  teeming,  hustling,  heavily 
populated  cities, — what  will  the  future  reveal? 
Read  the  answer  in  the  history  of  the  American 
people! 

Time  was  when  the  Great  West  lured  all  men. 
Now  it  is  the  Great  North !  The  West,  that  once 
fabled  land  of  the  bad  man,  the  gold  mine,  the 
gun  fighter  and  similar  attractions,  has  vanished 
from  our  scheme.  If  there  is  now  a  spot  in  the 
West  which  has  not  passed  into  the  hands  of  pri- 
vate management,  rest  assured  that  it  is  a  spot 
where  nothing  but  sage  brush  and  jack  rabbits 
will  thrive!  But  the  Great  North  is  waiting! 
And  calling!  The  last  frontier!  The  only  ter- 
ritory under  the  Stars  and  Stripes  where  the  man 
without  capital  has  yet  a  reasonable  chance  of 
reaping  the  reward  of  his  labors.  And  the  North 
is  waiting  and  calling  for  you! 

As  I  write  the  closing  pages  of  this  book  I  find 
that  I  myself  am  once  more  hearing — the  Voice ! 


240    THE  LAND  OF  TOMORROW 

Is  it  the  same  Voice  which  called  me  to  the  North- 
land some  ten  years  ago  ?  I  think  so.  And  never 
before  have  I  heard  it  in  tones  so  distinct,  so  in- 
sistent. I  have  been  somewhat  critical  (justly  so, 
I  feel)  of  the  indifference  of  the  government 
toward  the  present  and  future  needs  of  Alaska. 

But .     Only  a  few  hours  ago  I  donned  the 

most  comfortable  suit  of  clothes  I  have  ever  worn, 
namely,  the  uniform  of  the  good  old  U.  S.  A.  I 
am  for  peace, — just  so  long  as  there  is  no  legiti- 
mate reason  for  war.  But  Germany  can  not  step 
on  the  tail  of  my  Uncle  Sam's  coat  with  impun- 
ity! 

Would  that  I  were  able  to  put  into  words  a 
fitting  tribute  to  the  staunch  friends  among  whom 
I  have  come  and  gone  under  almost  every  con- 
ceivable circumstance  and  condition!  To  form 
friendships  such  as  these,  cemented  by  events 
wrhich  can  not  occur  elsewhere,  is  well  worth  liv- 
ing for.  Whenever  my  mind  reverts  to  this  sub- 
ject I  recall  a  little  stanza  which  expresses  my 
thoughts  far  better  than  I  can  voice  them  my- 
self. So,  to  my  friends,  the  Alaskans,  I  can  only 
say: 

"I  have  eaten  your  bread  and  your  salt; 
I  have  drunk  of  your  water  and  wine; 
The  deaths  you  have  died  I  have  watched  beside, 
And  the  lives  that  you  lived  were  mine!" 


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